Singapore reports lower-than-expected inflation for April at 1.8%
A housewife (R) buys vegetables from a vegetable market in Singapore
Roslan Rahman | Afp | Getty Images
Singapore reported on Monday that April inflation was lower than expected at 1.8%, due to lower growth in services and retail inflation.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast inflation at 2%. Core inflation, which excludes private transportation and accommodation prices, was 1.4%, compared to expectations of 1.7%.
But the Monetary Authority of Singapore said the city-state’s import cost pressures were expected to increase and widen in the coming months.
“As higher energy and other input costs from developments in the Middle East move through global supply chains, they will increase the production and transportation costs of a broader range of products and services that Singapore imports,” according to the government statement.
MAS had predicted that both headline and core inflation would be in the range of 1.5%-2.5% for the whole of 2026.
Earlier in the day, Singapore revised its first-quarter GDP growth to 6%, up sharply from 4.6% in advanced forecasts and above Reuters estimates of 5.1%.
The country’s Ministry of Trade and Industry he said this Singapore’s full-year growth will be between 2% and 4% in 2026 amid energy-related disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz.
MAS in April It tightened monetary policy for the first time in more than three years due to the inflation outlook.
Unlike most countries, Singapore does not use interest rates to govern monetary policy, instead guiding the Singapore dollar within a policy band against a trade-weighted basket of currencies.
The Singapore dollar is managed within the designated policy range, the exact levels of which are not disclosed.
