Singapore August CPI seen falling year-on-year, but at milder pace

[SINGAPORE] Singapore's consumer price index (CPI) is expected to have declined for a 22nd straight month in August from a year earlier, though the rate of decline is likely to moderate from recent months, a Reuters poll showed.

The median forecast from a Reuters survey of 12 economists was for the all-items CPI to have fallen 0.4 per cent in August from a year ago, after declining 0.7 per cent in July.

That would be the smallest year-on-year drop in CPI since July 2015, when CPI also fell by 0.4 per cent.

Downward pressure on prices is expected to have moderated in August, with economists citing factors such as recent rises in the prices of car permits.

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 forecast to have risen 1.1 per cent in August from a year earlier.

That would match the a rise last recorded in June, when core CPI also rose 1.1 per cent in the fastest year-on-year rise since February 2015.

Core CPI excludes changes in the prices of cars and accommodation, which are influenced more by government policies.

REUTERS