Singapore Feb core CPI rises 0.5% year-over-year, highest in 5 months

Singapore: Singapore`s core inflation gauge rose 0.5 percent in February from a year earlier, the fastest pace in five months, on the back of higher food prices, data showed on Wednesday.

That was the quickest rise in the central bank`s core inflation gauge since September, when it rose 0.6 percent from a year earlier.

The outcome may reinforce the prevailing expectation among analysts for the Monetary Authority of Singapore to hold off from additional easing in April and keep policy unchanged.

The all-items consumer price index fell 0.8 percent in February from a year earlier.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected the all-items CPI to fall 0.8 percent, while the core inflation measure had been expected to rise 0.4 percent from a year earlier.