Singapore: Inflation remains at joint-lowest level since June 2021 in July
Inflation was stable at June’s 2.4% in July. July’s result marked the joint-weakest inflation rate since June 2021. The reading was largely driven by slower increases in prices for food plus housing and utilities, offset by stronger price growth for transport.
The trend pointed down slightly, with annual average inflation coming in at 3.3% in July (June: 3.5%). Meanwhile, core inflation fell to 2.5% in July from June’s 2.9%.
Lastly, consumer prices fell 0.25% over the previous month in July, a sharper drop than June’s 0.22% fall. July’s result marked the weakest reading since January.
United Overseas Bank analyst Alvin Liew commented on risks to the outlook:
“While the progress on easing prices is notable, we remain concerned about the pickup in imported and external inflation in the recent months. In the case of imported inflation, any reacceleration, particularly in the “food and live animals” component could hamper the progress of disinflation given food has a significant weight of 21.1% in the overall CPI basket. […] Further step down of core inflation may face some headwinds in the next two months due to major events such as the F1 night race (which may see a stronger bound in tourism-related prices).”