Singapore's consumer prices declined further in May mostly due to base effects associated with the timing of the disbursement of service & conservancy charges rebates, the report published by the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Ministry of Trade and Industry showed Thursday.
Consumer prices slid 1.6 percent year-on-year in May, faster than the 0.5 percent decrease seen in April and a 0.8 percent fall forecast by economists.
Accommodation costs declined 6 percent versus a 0.9 percent drop a month ago. At the same time, private road transport cost dropped 7.6 percent annually.
MAS core inflation that excludes the costs of accommodation and private road transport, rose to 1 percent in May from 0.8 percent in April, reflecting a pickup in services inflation.
Month-on-month, consumer prices decreased 0.7 percent after easing marginally by 0.1 percent in April. Core prices slid 0.1 percent following a flat change in the previous month.
For the whole of 2016, MAS core inflation is forecast to be in the lower half of the 0.5-1.5 percent range, barring a sharp rise in global oil prices.
CPI-All Items inflation is projected to remain negative throughout 2016, and average -1.0-0.0 percent for the year as a whole.
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