Singapore June headline CPI seen falling for 20th month: poll

[SINGAPORE] Singapore's headline annual consumer price index in June is expected to have declined for the 20th straight month, a Reuters poll showed, as housing and private transportation costs ease.

The median forecast in a Reuters survey of 10 economists was for the all-items consumer price index (CPI) to have fallen 1.1 per cent in June from a year earlier.

The drop in the CPI was expected to have moderated from May, when the government gave rebates to households that reduced housing maintenance-related costs.

In May, the all-items CPI fell 1.6 per cent, extending a record run of consecutive year-on-year declines in headline CPI to 19 months - the longest streak since Singapore's independence in 1965.

Headline CPI has been falling on an annual basis since November 2014, hit by lower global oil prices as well as falls in housing rents and private transport costs.

According to the Reuters survey, core CPI was seen likely to rise one per cent from a year earlier. That would be steady from May's pace, which was the fastest since core CPI rose by a similar one per cent in March 2015.

The central bank's core inflation measure excludes changes in the prices of cars and accommodation, which are influenced more by government policies.

REUTERS