It rose 6.5%. For the first half year, it was up 7.1% for Singapore households, with poor families harder hit.
For those in the middle 60 per cent and highest 20 per cent income groups, the inflation rate rose by 6.9 per cent. -- PHOTO: BERITA HARIAN
SINGAPORE'S inflation finally eased from its almost-relentless climb as it levelled at 6.5 per cent in July, down from 7.5 per cent in the previous two months.
The decline came largely as the lingering technical effect of last July's hike in the Goods and Services Tax wore off. The 2 percentage rise in the GST rate has been adding significantly to year-on-year inflation figures in the past 12 months, despite the rise being a one-off event.
The 7.5 per cent rise was the highest level since February 1982 when inflation hit 9 per cent.
July's figure signals that inflation may have peaked and is on its way down.
Still, the latest update from the Department of Statistics (DOS) on Monday showed that against June, prices last month were actually 1.2 per cent higher, reversing a 0.3 per cent decline in June over May.
This may suggest that any further moderation in the headline year-on-year figures may not be as big as hoped.
As is becoming a familiar story, food, petrol and electricity costs were the main drivers for July's price increases.
Food inflation clocked in at 8.5 per cent, resulting from dearer cooked food, rice, poultry, vegetables, cooking oils and milk.
Higher pump prices and taxi fares drove up transport and communication costs by 3.4 per cent, while increases in electricity tariffs sent housing costs surging 12.5 per cent.
In a separate statement issued on Monday morning, DOS said inflation hit low-income families harder in the first half of the year as sky-rocketing food prices chomped away at their pockets.
Better-off households fared only slightly better as they spent more on petrol, healthcare and education.
This reverts last year's anomalous result where surging car and petrol prices, along with dearer holiday travel, led the rich to face higher inflation than the poor.
The consumer price index for households in the bottom 20 per cent income group rose an average of 7.4 per cent in the first six months of the year, above the national mean of 7.1 per cent.
Food, accommodation and utility costs were the main drivers for these poorer families as these items make up a bigger part of their budgets as compared with richer families.
For the rest of Singapore, inflation clocked in at 6.9 per cent.
