Singapore Consumer Inflation Eases in August

Singapore's consumer prices rose at a slower-than-expected pace in August, as housing and utilities costs continued to fall.

The consumer-price index rose 0.4% in August from the previous year. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had expected the CPI to rise 0.6%, in line with July's increase.

Housing and utilities costs, which have an index weighting of 26%, declined 2.3% in August from a year earlier due to a 3.9% on-year fall in accommodation costs, data from the Department of Statistics showed.

Transportation costs, which make up 16% of the index, gained 1.4%, partly due to higher gasoline prices, the data showed.

Food prices, which have a 22% weighting in the index, rose 1.2% from a year ago.

The central bank's core inflation measure, which strips out private road transport and accommodation costs, rose to 1.4% in August from 1.6% in July. The poll had predicted core inflation at 1.7% in August.

Write to Saurabh Chaturvedi at saurabh.chaturvedi@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 25, 2017 01:15 ET (05:15 GMT)