Inflation down for a fifth month; no deflation feared

Singapore

SINGAPORE'S consumer prices fell for a fifth straight month in March - slipping 0.3 per cent from a year ago - and economists believe that the inflation rate may turn positive only in the third quarter of this year.

If so, the economy could witness a longer stretch of negative inflation this year than the previous six-month period of falling prices from July to December 2009. But this triggered no alarm bells over deflation - typically understood as a widespread and sustained decline in prices and demand, that could harm growth.

After all, in Singapore's case, recent falls in the consum…