Friday 29 Mar 2024
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SINGAPORE (Jan 20): Singapore's headline consumer price index in December probably fell from a year earlier for a second straight month, a Reuters poll showed, due to lower transport costs and falling oil prices.

The all-items consumer price index (CPI) in December likely fell 0.1 percent from a year earlier, according to the median forecast in a Reuters survey of 12 economists. 

The official data is due on Jan 23.

In November, headline CPI fell 0.3 percent from a year earlier, the first time Singapore's headline inflation rate turned negative in nearly five years.  

The poll also showed that the Monetary Authority of Singapore's (MAS) core inflation measure in December likely 
increased 1.6 percent from a year earlier.

In November, core inflation slipped to a 19-month low of 1.5 percent. 

With Singapore's growth likely to remain modest next year and oil prices staying weak, a few economists now expect the MAS to loosen its foreign exchange-rate based monetary policy at its next policy review in April.

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