Core inflation in Singapore accelerated for a seventh month to the fastest in almost a decade amid expectations that its central bank will act again in April to tighten policy.
The central bank’s core consumer price index — which excludes private transport and accommodation costs — advanced 2.4% in January, the most since September 2012. That compares with a median forecast of 2.5% in a Bloomberg survey.
Food and energy drove the increases, along with a slower pace of price declines for retail goods, according to a joint statement Wednesday from the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Ministry of Trade and Industry.
“While ongoing external supply constraints should ease in the…
