UOB Group’s Economist Barnabas Gan reviews the latest inflation figures in Singapore.
Key Takeaways
“Singapore’s consumer prices rose at its fastest rate in a decade at 5.4% y/y (+1.2% m/m nsa) in Mar 2022. This is significantly faster compared to market expectations for a 4.7% y/y (+0.8% m/m nsa) print. Core inflation also accelerated to 2.9% y/y in the same month (Feb: +2.2% y/y).”
“Headline inflation has climbed for seven straight months, while core inflation stayed above the 2.0% handle for the fourth straight reading. In line with the recent MAS policy statement, authorities have upgraded their headline and core inflation forecast to 4.5 – 5.5% (from 2.5 – 3.5%) and 2.5% – 3.5% (from 2.0 – 3.0%) in 2022, respectively.”
“As discussed in our latest MAS policy and GDP report, we keep our headline inflation forecast to average 4.5%. Moreover, we expect core inflation to breach 3.0% for the rest of this year, and average 3.5% for the year.”