SINGAPORE, Nov. 25 (Xinhua) Singapore's headline inflation edged up to 2.0 percent in October from 1.6 percent in September, mainly due to the increase in private road transport cost, the city-state's central bank and Ministry of Trade and Industry said on Monday.
It is in line with market expectation.
The private road transport costs climbed by 2.7 percent on year as a result from a pick-up in Certificate of Entitlement (COE) premiums, rebounding from September's 2 percent decline.
The CPI inflation for food also increased slightly from 2.4 percent in September to 2.5 percent in October, "reflecting slightly steeper price increases for both non-cooked food and prepared meals."
On the other hand, the services inflation eased to 2.5 percent Oct., led by slower increases in the costs of recreation, entertainment and holiday travel.
Accommodation cost also rose at a slower pace in Oct. at 1.9 percent, compared to 3.9 percent in the previous month.
The core inflation monitored by the central bank, which excludes the costs of accommodation and private road transport, grew slightly to 1.8 percent in Oct. from 1.7 percent in Sept., due to stronger contributions from food and oil-related items.
The central bank said that it expects imported inflation to remain subdued this year, "given spare production capacity in the advanced economies and ample supply buffers in the commodity markets."
"However, the pass-through of domestic costs to prices of consumer services could intensify as a result of the rising cost pressures that firms are facing from business rentals and labor costs," it added.
The core inflation is expected to rise over the next few quarters. The full year core inflation will be at 1.5 percent to 2 percent this year and 2 percent to 3 percent next year.
The full-year headline inflation is expected to come in at 2.5 percent to 3 percent in 2013 and 2 percent to 3 percent in 2014.