Blog

SINGAPORE’S central bank may take steps to loosen monetary policy on Friday (Jan 24) for the first time in nearly five years, with the city-state’s core inflation in December remaining below the 2 per cent threshold, several economists said.

Core inflation, which excludes private transport and accommodation, eased to 1.8 per cent in December, from 1.9 per cent the previous month, data from the Singapore Department of Statistics showed on Thursday.

This is the lowest since November 2021, and came on the back of a moderation in services inflation.

Headline inflation in December remained unchanged at 1.6 per cent because lower core and accommodation inflation was offset by a milder decline in private transport costs, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) said.

December’s inflation numbers are a shade higher than the levels that private-sector economists polled by Bloomberg expected.