(Sept 23): Singapore inflation accelerated for a third month in a row to the highest in almost two years, pushing prices closer to the upper end of the central bank’s forecast range.
Core inflation, which excludes housing and private transportation costs, accelerated in August to 2.2% from a year earlier, the Singapore Department of Statistics said on Wednesday. That’s the highest since September 2024 and matches the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey.
Food, retail and services saw faster inflation, according to a joint release by the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Ministry of Trade and Industry, as elevated global oil prices and other external cost pressures continued to filter through to the economy.
“Global oil prices remain high and volatile while adverse weather conditions are expected to lower agricultural yields,” the MAS and MTI said. As higher input costs pass through global supply chains, the prices of Singapore’s imported goods and services are expected to pick up in the quarters ahead, they said.
Against that backdrop, the authorities said “the risks to the inflation outlook remain tilted to the upside”.
The MAS forecasts core inflation at 1.5%-2.5% this year, seeing price pressures likely to moderate discernibly from around mid-2027.
The MAS, which tightened policy at its past two meetings this year, will announce its next decision mid-October. Several major central banks, including the Federal Reserve, Bank of Japan and European Central Bank, have raised rates recently to contain resurgent inflation.
“Singapore’s monetary policy appears to be in a good place,” said DBS Group Holdings Ltd economist Chua Han Teng. “We see its policy framework providing flexibility to lean against higher imported costs through calibrated adjustments if necessary amid an uncertain landscape of upside inflation risks.”
The all-items inflation rate came in at 2.3%, also meeting the median survey estimate. Utilities and other fuels rose 6.1%, the department’s data showed.
The government has sought to cushion the city state from external shocks, rolling out nearly S$2 billion (RM6.39 billion) of support since the outbreak of the US-Iran war earlier this year.
Uploaded by Arion Yeow