SINGAPORE (REUTERS) - Singapore's consumer price index in August is expected to have declined from a year earlier for the 10th straight month, a Reuters poll showed on Monday (Sept 21), weighed down by lower COE prices and falls in housing costs.
The all-items consumer price index (CPI) was forecast to be down 0.5 per cent on a year-on-year basis, according to the median pick in a Reuters poll of 12 economists. In July, headline CPI fell 0.4 per cent.
The poll also projected the central bank's core inflation measure would rise 0.4 per cent from a year earlier, steady from July's pace.
Core inflation - the focus of the Monetary Authority of Singapore's (MAS) policy - excludes changes in the prices of Certificates of Entitlement and accommodation.
Annual headline CPI has been falling since last November, pressured by a slide in global oil prices as well as declining housing rents and private road transport costs.
Some economists see an increasing chance of a technical recession and more monetary easing next month, after data last month showed Singapore's industrial production in July shrank more than expected from a year earlier. MAS holds its next policy meeting in October.
The August CPI data is due to be released on Wednesday (Sept 23) at 1pm.
