Singapore's consumer price index falls 1.6% in May

SINGAPORE'S consumer price index (CPI) fell 1.6 per cent in May, compared to the 0.5 per cent dip in April, mostly due to accommodation costs and the timing of the disbursement of service & conservancy charges rebates, said the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) on Thursday.

For the month of May, accommodation costs contracted 6 per cent, compared to the 0.9 per cent fall in the previous month. Private road transport cost was 7.6 per cent lower, compared to the 7.1 per cent decline a month earlier. This was driven by a larger decline in petrol pump prices, reflecting the relatively high base in May last year.

Food inflation edged down to 2.2 per cent from 2.3 per cent in the previous month, as increases in the price of prepared meals (such as restaurant food) moderated.

Meanwhile, services inflation rose to 1.5 per cent from 0.7 per cent a month earlier, as the disinflationary effect from the reduction in foreign domestic worker concessionary levy since May 2015 dissipated, said MAS.

CPI less imputed rentals on owner-occupied accommodation was one per cent lower in May, reversing the 0.3 per cent increase in April.

MAS's core inflation, which excludes the costs of accommodation and private road transport, rose to one per cent from 0.8 per cent in April on account of the pick-up in services inflation.