Inflation picks up in May at 5.6%

It accelerated due to higher private transport, food, and services inflation.

The rate of price increase sped up to 5.6% in May. Last month inflation was at 5.4%.

The further acceleration of the headline or consumer price index (CPI)-all items inflation was on the back of higher accommodation (4.0% from 3.9%), private transport (18.5 from 18.3%) inflation, and a rise in core inflation (3.6% from 3.3%), according to the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) and Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

MAS and MTI said accommodation edged up on the back of a larger increase in housing rents, whilst private transport rose amidst higher petrol costs.

Meanwhile, inflation for other expenditure divisions namely food, services, and retail and other goods also picked up in May to 4.5%, 2.6%, and 1.8%, respectively.

Looking ahead, MAS said prices of commodities such as food will remain high due to supply-demand mismatches and disruption in global transportation and regional supply chain.

Crude oil will likewise remain elevated amidst higher geopolitical risks and tight supply conditions.

For the whole year, headline inflation is forecast to come in between 4.5–5.5%.

Follow the link for more news on

Singapore inflation

Reaching the people who run Asia's businesses is harder than it used to be.

Inboxes are crowded. Attention is short. The executives you most want to reach — the founders, CFOs, and operators who actually move budgets — are the hardest to find through the usual channels. If you're building a company, a category, or a reputation, you already know this.

We've spent twenty years building the room they read. Singapore Business Review is where senior decision makers in Singapore and across Southeast Asia come for business coverage they can't get elsewhere — in print, online, and in person at the summits and roundtables we host across seven markets.

If you have something these readers should know about — a point of view worth publishing, a product worth their attention, an event worth their time — we'd like to hear what you're trying to do.

Book a meeting

| Or download the media kit (PDF)

240,000 senior readers quarterly in print Top 1,700 Singapore companies reached

7 markets across Southeast Asia