SINGAPORE, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) -- Singapore's Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.4 percent in September, unchanged from the previous month, said Ministry of Trade and Industry and Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) in a joint release on Monday.
The unchanged inflation was mainly due to the offset effect of higher services inflation and lower private road transport inflation, said the release.
Services inflation edged up to 1.5 percent in September from 1.4 percent a month ago, mainly due to faster pace of increase in telecommunication services fees.
Private road transport inflation eased to 2.1 percent in September from 2.6 percent in the previous month, reflecting a larger decline in car prices and a smaller year-ago increase in petrol prices.
Food prices stayed steadily in September at 1.2 percent, unchanged from a month ago. Accommodation cost fell by 3.9 percent in September, the same rate of decline as in August due to continued softness in the housing rental market.
Meanwhile, the MAS core inflation, which excludes the costs of accommodation and private road transport, was higher at 1.5 percent in September as compared to 1.4 percent in August, due to an increase in services inflation.
Looking forward, Singapore is likely to see mild increase of imported inflation as global demand improves amid ample supply in key commodity markets, said the release. It forecast that global oil prices are expected to go up only slightly in 2018 compared to 2017. Meanwhile, food commodity prices are also expected to rise modestly next year.
According to the release, Singapore's inflation is expected to stand at around 0.5 percent in 2017 and stay in the range of 0-1 percent in 2018. The MAS core inflation is likely to stay around 1.5 percent in 2017 and 1-2 percent in 2018.
