Singapore’s key inflation gauge in July cooled to the slowest pace of gains in four months.
The core inflation rate, which excludes housing and private transportation costs, stood at 0.5% in July from a year earlier, the lowest since March, according to a statement by the Department of Statistics Singapore on Monday. That’s lower than the 0.6% for both June and the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey.
The overall inflation rate last month came in at 0.6% from a year ago, lower than the 0.8% survey median estimate. Recreation prices fell 1.2%, after a 2.6% drop in June. The food inflation rate was 1.1% in July, while healthcare costs rose 2.4%.
Official estimates project the city-state’s core inflation to average between 0.5%-1.5% this year. The Monetary Authority of Singapore kept its policy settings unchanged at its July 30 meeting.
The government upgraded the economy’s outlook to 1.5%-2.5% this year, from 0%-2% since May, after a better-than-expected first half performance on export front-loading. Downside risks appear to be emerging, as July data showed that non-oil domestic exports to the US fell the most since March 2024.
