Low-income households benefited most from Singapore's mild inflation

HOUSEHOLDS in the lowest income bracket benefited the most from low inflation in the second half of 2017, according to statistics released on Tuesday.

Those in the middle 60 per cent and top 20 per cent experienced modest increases in price levels, the data from the Department of Statistics showed.

The consumer price index - the main measure of inflation - rose 0.5 per cent in the second half of 2017 compared with the corresponding period in 2016.

This was lower than the 0.7 per cent increase in the first half of 2017.

The consumer price index for households in the bottom 20 per cent by income declined 0.1 per cent - the sixth consecutive half-yearly fall.

This was mainly due to lower accommodation costs.

Consumer prices for the middle 60 per cent went up 0.4 per cent in the same period, while the top 20 per cent experienced a 0.6 per cent rate of inflation.

This was on account of higher food and petrol prices, tuition and other fees, healthcare services cost, parking fees, water price, electricity tariffs and salaries for foreign domestic workers, which more than offset the effect of lower accommodation costs and bus and train fares.