CPI for Singapore households up by 0.7% in H1 2017

THE consumer price index (CPI) for Singapore households rose by 0.7 per cent year-on-year in the first half of 2017, reversing the 0.2 per cent decline in the second half of 2016.

Excluding imputed rentals on owner-occupied accommodation (OOA)[1], the CPI rose by 1.9 per cent in H1 2017, higher than the 0.7 per cent increase in H2 2016[/1], based on data released by the Department of Statistics Singapore on Monday.

Among the different income groups, the bottom one-fifth of households saw inflation fell marginally by 0.1 per cent year-on-year in the first half of 2017 - the only income group which saw a sustained fall in its headline inflation since the first half of 2015.

Headline inflation for the middle 60 per cent and highest 20 per cent income groups rose by 0.6 per cent and one per cent, respectively, for the same period - the first increase since the second half of 2014.

All three income groups experienced higher food and petrol prices, as well as tuition and other fees in the first half of 2017. Healthcare services cost, road tax, electricity tariffs and parking fees also rose on a year-on-year basis.

Accommodation costs as well as bus and train fares, however, fell for all three income groups.