The consumer price index (CPI) declined 0.7 per cent from a year earlier, after gaining 1.6 per cent the previous month.

This was the first fall in annual CPI since June 2005, the Department of Statistics said in a statement on Monday.

On a month-on-month basis, prices fell 1.1 per cent from March, without adjusting for seasonal factors, with the slide due largely to lower costs of housing and food.

'This is the largest month-on-month decline since March 1982,' said OCBC Bank economist Selena Ling. 'It's a definite sign the domestic recession has finally filtered down to domestic prices and that the demand pullback has hit home.'

April's lower CPI was due mainly to lower costs of housing, food and recreation, said the DOS.

Housing cost declined by 4.2 per cent as a result of lower electricity tariffs and service and conservancy charges as more rebates for S&CC were given in April.

Compared to a year ago, costs of transport and communication, housing and recreation, have also come down.

Reflecting cheaper petrol, as well as lower car prices and road tax, costs of transport and communication declined by 6.3 per cent, while housing cost dipped by 1.7 per cent from April last year.