Singapore March CPI rises 5.2 pct, above expectations

SINGAPORE - Singapore's consumer price index rose 5.2 per cent in March from a year earlier, the government said on Monday, accelerating from February's 4.6 per cent pace due to a jump in car prices.


The central bank's core inflation measure rose 2.9 per cent, slowing from February's 3.0 per cent increase.

Headline inflation "could average around 5 per cent year-on-year in the first half before easing gradually in the second half of 2012," the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said in a joint statement.

Accommodation costs will remain the largest contributor to inflation this year as "leasing contracts continue to be renewed at rentals that are considerably higher than those under existing contracts, especially in the HDB segment," they said.