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SINGAPORE: Singapore's annual inflation rate was 6.4 per cent in August, boosted by housing and food costs, official data showed Tuesday.
The August consumer price index (CPI) was higher than an average 6.2 per cent forecast in a poll of economists by Dow Jones Newswires but eased from July's 6.5 per cent and the 26-year peak of 7.5 per cent in April, May and June.
The Department of Statistics said housing costs rose an annual 12.8 per cent in August on higher electricity tariffs and rents, while food prices jumped 8.4 per cent, it said.
Singapore consumers paid 2.0 per cent more for transportation and communication, 4.8 per cent more for health care and 3.6 per cent more for recreation.
On a seasonally adjusted basis, August CPI was 0.1 per cent higher than in July. For the first eight months of the year it was 6.9 per cent higher than in the same period in 2007, the department said.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the nation's de facto central bank, has raised its CPI forecast for 2008 to 6.0-7.0 per cent from 5.0-6.0 per cent on higher oil prices and inflation in the countries it trades with.
The latest numbers are adding to evidence that inflation has peaked, and fuelling talk that the MAS may ease its monetary policy at its next review in October.
The city-state imports most of its needs because it lacks the natural resources and agricultural base of its bigger neighbours.
- AFP/yb
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