Singapore’s headline and core inflation come in below expectations in January

Singaporean headline inflation and core inflation came in below expectations in January. On a sequential basis, consumer price inflation came in at -0.3 percent, a deceleration from December’s print of 0.1 percent.

On a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation decelerated slightly to 0.4 percent from the 0.5 percent print in the prior month. The MAS core inflation came in at 1.7 percent on a year-on-year basis, as compared with consensus expectations of a rise of 1.9 percent.

At a component level, the deviation was mainly driven by an unexpected fall of 1.8 percent in the recreation and culture component. The change in other items was widely consistent with the projections and a continuation of on-going trends. Transport costs were the only other major source of deviation but to the upside. Transport costs were up 0.3 percent sequentially.

In all, the January data does not indicate towards a widespread easing of price pressures, noted ANZ in a research report.