Singapore's January CPI inflation hits 2- year high

Singapore consumer price index in January rose by 5.5 percent year on year. It is the highest in more than two years.


The inflation rate was also higher than previous market estimates, which typically projected a rise of less than 5 percent.

The department said the increase was mainly due to higher costs of transport, housing and food. The costs of transport increased by 18.4 percent due to higher prices of cars and oil. Housing cost rose 5.3 per cent while food prices rose 2.8 per cent.

On a month-on-month basis, the consumer price index increased by 1.6 percent from December last year.

However, the core inflation of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, which excludes accommodation and private road transport costs, rose 2 percent year on year, following a 2.1 percent increase in the previous month.

Inflation pressure has been high in Singapore recently. The CPI inflation for January was the highest since October 2008. The CPI inflation was 3.8 percent in November and 4.6 percent in December last year.

The Ministry of Trade and Industry raised its inflation forecast last week for the year 2011 to 3-4 percent from the previous estimate of 2-3 percent.

The ministry said inflation was expected to accelerate to 5-6 percent in the first months of the year before moderating in the second half.