SINGAPORE, June 24 (Xinhua) -- Singapore's Consumer Price Index (CPI) grew 0.9 percent year-on-year in May, following the 0.8 percent increase in April, the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) and Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said in a joint release on Monday.
The authorities attribute the higher inflation to a more modest decline in accommodation costs as well as higher private road transport, retail and food inflation, which outweighed a larger fall in electricity and gas costs.
Meanwhile, the MAS Core Inflation, which excludes the costs of accommodation and private road transport, remained at 1.3 percent this May, as higher retail and food inflation broadly offset a steeper decline in the cost of electricity and gas.
The authorities reiterated in the release that Singapore's CPI inflation was expected to average 0.5 percent to 1.5 percent in 2019, and the MAS Core Inflation was expected to come in near the mid-point of the forecast range of 1 percent to 2 percent.
