Singapore's Nov inflation creeps up to 0% - first non-negative reading in 2 years

SINGAPORE'S November headline inflation was flat at 0 per cent in year-on-year terms - exactly in line with the market's expectation, and the first non-negative reading in two years.

Core inflation (which excludes the cost of accommodation and private road transport) crept higher as well to 1.3 per cent last month, compared to 1.1 per cent the month before.

The Department of Statistics (DOS) released the latest inflation data on Friday. The 17 economists polled by Bloomberg had also expected overall inflation to rise marginally to 0 per cent in November, in contrast to October's -0.1 per cent.

The slightly higher readings for both headline and core inflation mainly reflected the pick-up in services and food inflation.

The former increased to 1.5 per cent in November from 1.4 per cent in October, while the latter edged up to 2 per cent from 1.9 per cent.

Said the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) in joint comments: "(Headline) inflation has troughed and is projected to pick up to 0.5 to 1.5 per cent next year, from around -0.5 per cent in 2016, largely reflecting the rise in private road transport cost."