S'pore's Jan CPI jumps 6.6%

Singapore's consumer prices rose 6.6 per cent in January from a year earlier, government data showed on Monday, as high food, transport and housing costs kept annual inflation at a 25-year high.

From a month earlier, consumer prices rose 1.5 per cent on a seasonally adjusted basis, the Department of Statistics said in a statement.

In an unusual move, the Ministry of Trade and Industry issued a statement along with the Department of Statistics' inflation data on Monday, saying the jump in inflation was due to one-off factors such as a housing value revision and that it was in line with the official inflation forecast of 4.5-5.5 per cent for 2008.

The ministry said inflation would start to ease in the second half of the year. In December the annual rate was 4.4 per cent.

'The 6.6 per cent year-on-year increase in the CPI in January 2008 was consistent with the official inflation forecast of 4.5 to 5.5 per cent for 2008 as a whole,' the Ministry of Trade and Industry said in a separate statement.

Some economists had expected annual consumer prices to exceed 6 per cent in January, reflecting higher food and energy prices, as well as hikes in transport costs.

'As the effects of the low base and one-off factors wear off in the second half of 2008, year-on-year inflation is expected to moderate significantly,' the ministry said.

The statistics department said the jump in inflation to the highest level since 7.5 per cent in March 1982 was due largely to an 11.1 per cent spike in housing costs recorded after a revision to values of public housing.

Food prices, which carry the largest weighting in the index, rose 5.8 per cent.

Sing dollar spikes
The Singapore dollar hit an 11-year high of 1.4050 per US dollar on Monday but slipped slightly to 1.4060 on suspected central bank intervention. The data had little direct impact.