Meanwhile, headline inflation increased to 0.6% from 0.5% last month, rising steadily for the third month due to softer declines in private road transport and accommodation costs. Private road transport costs saw a smaller drop in March of -0.9% from -2.3% in February, as a result of COE prices rebounding in March after a 14-month decline.
SINGAPORE (Apr 29): The Department of Statistics on April 23 released the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for March. Core inflation, which excludes housing and private transport costs, has eased to 1.4% from 1.5% in February. The slightly lower inflation is attributed to softer increases in electricity and gas tariffs, which offset the pickup in services and food inflation.
The opening up of the retail electricity market has created an impact. The increase in electricity and gas prices eased further to 3.9% in March from 5.5% in February. Food inflation prices increased to 1.6% from 1.4% due to a faster rise in prices of prepared meals and non-cooked food items.
