“Top of everyone’s minds is the cost of living,” Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in a National Day Rally speech Sunday. The government is doing “everything necessary” especially to aid the most vulnerable households coping with inflation, and will “stand ready to do more” if the outlook worsens, he said.
Singapore’s inflation is seen to remain elevated until the first quarter of next year and the central bank will probably tighten further at the October review, according to a Bloomberg survey of economists.
Headline and core inflation forecasts show a quickening into year-end, before both measures start to ease in the January-March period and slip below 4% from the second quarter next year, a survey conducted from Aug 15 - Aug 18 shows. Headline inflation this year is expected to average 5.6% from a prior estimate of 4.9%, according to the survey.
