Singapore: Inflation stabilizes in December from the prior month
Latest reading: Consumer prices increased 1.2% in annual terms in December, stable from the previous month’s reading and in line with market estimates. As a result, price pressures averaged 0.9% in 2025 as a whole (2024: +2.4%), marking the softest result in the post-pandemic era.
Relative to the prior month’s figures, price pressures were higher for transport in December (+3.6% on a year-on-year basis vs +3.2% in November). In contrast, there were milder price pressures for healthcare (+4.2% vs +4.4% in November). Finally, the variations in food and housing and utilities were the same as in the prior month (+1.2% and +0.2%, respectively).
Meanwhile, core consumer prices increased 1.2% on a year-on-year basis in December, stable from the previous month’s reading.
Finally, consumer prices were up 0.27% in December in month-on-month terms, following a 0.25% increase in the prior month.
Panelist insight: Commenting on the outlook, Jester Koh, analyst at United Overseas Bank, stated:
“We maintain our 2026 core and headline inflation forecasts […], with risks to headline inflation tilted slightly towards the upside on account of the announced fall in COE [Certificate of Entitlement, which grant the right to own and use a vehicle for 10 years] supply for the Feb 2026–Apr 2026 period. We have also incorporated the announced 3% decline in household electricity tariffs for 1Q26 into our projections.”