Inflation decelerates in February from January

Latest reading: Consumer prices rose 1.2% on a year-on-year basis in February, following a 1.4% rise in the previous month. Relative to the prior month's figures, price pressures reduced for housing and utilities in February (+0.3% on a year-on-year basis vs +1.7% in January). In contrast, there were higher price pressures for food (+1.6% vs +1.2% in January) and transport (+2.7% vs +2.4% in January). Meanwhile, core consumer prices rose 1.4% in annual terms in February, following a 1.0% increase in the prior month. Finally, consumer prices were up 0.58% in February on a month-on-month basis, following a 0.51% fall in the prior month.

Panelist insight: Commenting on the outlook, Nomura’s Euben Paracuelles and Yiru Chen said: “Rising oil prices will have direct implications for Singapore’s core inflation via adjustments in household utility costs, e.g., gas and electricity rates. […] If we assume that the Brent oil price stays at USD80/bbl for the rest of the year and taking into account the adjustment mechanism for electricity rates (e.g. the one quarter lag), we estimate that the upside risk to our 2026 core inflation forecast will be around 10bp. These estimates are of course still subject to much uncertainty and could still change.”

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