Singapore: Goods and services tax hikes lead to inflation pickup

Singapore’s core inflation rose slightly to 3.3% year-on-year in December last year, official data has showed.

It edged up from 3.2% year-on-year in November due to higher services inflation, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) said.

Singapore: Goods and services tax hikes lead to inflation pickup  -0

Core inflation, which excludes accommodation and private transport costs, had risen to 5.5%  in January and February last year, a 14-year high, before trending downwards. It fell to 3% in September, the lowest since March 2022.

For the whole of 2023, core inflation averaged 4.2% higher than 4.1% in 2022. Meanwhile, the headline consumer price index, or overall inflation, was 3.7% in December, higher than the 3.6 % in November.

This reflected a faster pace of increase in private transport costs, alongside the pickup in services inflation, said MAS and MTI. Overall inflation came in at 4.8%, down from 6.1% the previous year.

Inflation rates in 2023 were impacted by the increase in the goods and services tax rate to 8%, authorities said.

VNA

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