This time, it's not deflation: economists

Singapore

SINGAPORE has logged its 12th straight month of negative inflation, marking a stretch of sub-zero readings that has lasted longer than that during the global financial crisis and re-igniting debate over whether the economy is in the grips of deflation.

It is a point economists are taking pains to debunk, even as October's headline inflation eased to -0.8 per cent from September's -0.6 per cent. While the figures seem compelling - the last period of negative headline inflation lasted from July to December 2009 - economists stress that this time, the reasons for negative inflation are critically different.