"Economists from Standard Chartered Plc to Citigroup Inc. predict the central bank will "revalue the currency" or let it appreciate faster at the policy review in April"
March 23, 2011
Singapore Consumer Prices Climb 5%, Sustaining Pressure to Tighten Policy
Singapore’s inflation held above 4.5 percent for a third month as the cost of transportation, food and housing climbed, sustaining pressure on the central bank to join regional policy makers in damping inflation.
The consumer price index increased 5 percent last month from a year earlier, a Department of Statistics statement showed today. That compares with an inflation rate of 5.5 percent in January. The median estimate of 18 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for a 5.4 percent gain. Prices fell 0.1 percent from January, without adjusting for seasonal factors.
Asian central banks from India to South Korea and Thailand have tightened monetary policy this month as rising oil and commodity prices threaten to fuel inflation. Singapore last month raised its inflation forecast for 2011, and economists from Standard Chartered Plc to Citigroup Inc. predict the central bank will revalue the currency or let it appreciate faster at the policy review in April.
“Inflationary risks are certainly rising,” Irvin Seah, an economist at DBS Group Holdings Ltd. in Singapore, said before the report. “Food and fuel prices will surely become more prominent factors in the inflation equation going forward. And that should prompt further monetary action from the Monetary Authority of Singapore.”
The central bank, which uses the exchange rate as its main tool to manage inflation, revalued the currency in April 2010 and said in October it would steepen and widen the currency’s trading band while continuing to seek a “modest and gradual appreciation.”
Currency Climbs
Consumer prices will probably rise 4 percent this year, according to the median estimate in a survey of 20 economists by the central bank released this month. Consumer prices may climb 3 percent to 4 percent this year, up from a previous forecast of 2 percent to 3 percent, the government said Feb. 17.
The Singapore dollar has gained more than 10 percent against the U.S. currency in the past year to be the best performing currency in Asia excluding Japan.
The Singapore dollar may strengthen to S$1.23 versus the U.S. currency by the end of 2011, economists surveyed by the central bank predicted. It traded at S$1.2644 a dollar at 12:20 p.m. local time.
March 23, 2011
Singapore Consumer Prices Climb 5%, Sustaining Pressure to Tighten Policy
Singapore’s inflation held above 4.5 percent for a third month as the cost of transportation, food and housing climbed, sustaining pressure on the central bank to join regional policy makers in damping inflation.
The consumer price index increased 5 percent last month from a year earlier, a Department of Statistics statement showed today. That compares with an inflation rate of 5.5 percent in January. The median estimate of 18 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for a 5.4 percent gain. Prices fell 0.1 percent from January, without adjusting for seasonal factors.
Asian central banks from India to South Korea and Thailand have tightened monetary policy this month as rising oil and commodity prices threaten to fuel inflation. Singapore last month raised its inflation forecast for 2011, and economists from Standard Chartered Plc to Citigroup Inc. predict the central bank will revalue the currency or let it appreciate faster at the policy review in April.
“Inflationary risks are certainly rising,” Irvin Seah, an economist at DBS Group Holdings Ltd. in Singapore, said before the report. “Food and fuel prices will surely become more prominent factors in the inflation equation going forward. And that should prompt further monetary action from the Monetary Authority of Singapore.”
The central bank, which uses the exchange rate as its main tool to manage inflation, revalued the currency in April 2010 and said in October it would steepen and widen the currency’s trading band while continuing to seek a “modest and gradual appreciation.”
Currency Climbs
Consumer prices will probably rise 4 percent this year, according to the median estimate in a survey of 20 economists by the central bank released this month. Consumer prices may climb 3 percent to 4 percent this year, up from a previous forecast of 2 percent to 3 percent, the government said Feb. 17.
The Singapore dollar has gained more than 10 percent against the U.S. currency in the past year to be the best performing currency in Asia excluding Japan.
The Singapore dollar may strengthen to S$1.23 versus the U.S. currency by the end of 2011, economists surveyed by the central bank predicted. It traded at S$1.2644 a dollar at 12:20 p.m. local time.
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