All-items Consumer Price Index (CPI) for Singapore in November edged up by 0.2% from October, according to the latest release by the Department of Statistics Singapore on Dec. 23.
MAS (Monetary Authority of Singapore) core inflation moderated to a decline of 0.1% in November from the previous month. MAS core inflation excludes the components of “Accomodation” and “Private Transportation”.
Accommodation CPI increased by 1.7% in November but this was mitigated by the fall in private transport CPI by 1.9% in November. Accommodation, comprises actual rentals for housing, imputed rentals for housing, as well as housing maintenance & repairs.
On a year-on-year (yoy) basis, all-terms CPI increased by 1.2% yoy in November. Yoy increase in October was also 1.2%.
The MAS core inflation also shows an increase of 1.2% yoy in November. The same scenario was observed yoy in October.
CPIs for food, housing & utilities, health, and information & communication increased by 0.1%, 1.6%, 0.8%, 0.2% and 0.6% in November over October respectively.
On a yoy basis, the CPIs for these categories also went up in November, except for information & communication which had declined in the same period. The CPIs for food, housing and utilities, as well as health categories showed a yoy rise of 1.2%, 0.2% and 4.4% in November respectively.
Clothing & footwear, household durables & services, transport, including recreation, sport & culture, as well as miscellaneous goods and services exhibit stabilisation in CPIs, showing reduction in November of 4.3%, 0.1%, 1.4%, 0.5% and 0.4% respectively as compared to the broader trend a year ago. In November 2024, the CPIs in transport, recreation, sport & culture, as well as miscellaneous goods and services were up.
The yoy rise in food CPI was driven by items like rice & cereal products, as well as meat. Overall, yoy CPIs for most of the food items have gone up, except for fish & other seafood, as well as fruits and nuts, which fell by 0.5% and 0.8% respectively. The highest yoy CPI increases were registered in items like oils & fats, including sugar, confectionery & desserts, as well as non-alcoholic beverages, which increased by 2.6%, 6.2% and 3.6% respectively.
In the housing & utilisation category, yoy increase in November for accommodation CPI was 0.3%, lower than the monthly increase of 1.7% from October. CPI for utilities & other fuels fell by 0.4% yoy in November.
For the transport CPI, yoy November showed an increase of 3.2%, driven largely by increases in CPIs for both private transport and land transport services.
Healthcare CPI registered a yoy increase in November by 4.4%, due mainly to increase in CPIs for inpatient care services, other health services, as well as health insurance. Health insurance CPI registered the steepest increase of 16.1% yoy in November.
Education CPI also inched up yoy in November by 1.1%, driven by an overall increase in all subcategories like general, vocational & higher education, including private tuition & other educational courses, as well as school textbooks & study guides.
