Here's what caused the slowdown in consumer prices

It has to do with the S&CC rebates.

Singapore's consumer price index slowed to 0.4% YoY in April. According to RHB, this is caused mainly by the differences in the disbursement schedule of service & conservancy charges (S&CC) rebates compared to last year.

More so, the cost of housing & utilities suffered a greater decline of 4.6% YoY in April, while price inflation of household durables & services slowed, weighed by a YoY decline in costs of household durables.

However, RHB has high hopes that CPI will remain positive this year, supported by the low base effect following two years of decline, the overall higher exports and commodity prices this year, and the pick-up in consumer sentiment.

"The rise is expected to remain benign, as the property market remains soft due to oversupply issues, and labour conditions have slackened. All in, we maintain our expectations for CPI to rise 1.2% in 2017, compared to -0.5% for each of the previous two years," RHB said.