These are the Singapore inflation rates for 2009:
January: 2.9%
Food and Housing is leading the charge, rising by 6.2% and 7.7% respectively year on year. The inflation rate will continue to maintain around this rate for at least the first quarter.
I am surprised that inflation could still hit 2.9%, considering last January's inflation was 6.6%. However, I've forgotten about the property revaluation which explains the 7.7% increase, and I did not expect health care and recreation to increase 4.1% and 3.2% respectively. I was thinking the inflation rate should be more at the region of 2.4%-2.5%.
Looks like the food and health care sectors are really resilient. Even in this kind of climate, prices can still increase. Judging from the news recently though, this might not last. I expect it to slowly moderate downwards.
4 comments:
"Looks like the food and health care sectors are really resilient. Even in this kind of climate, prices can still increase. Judging from the news recently though, this might not last. I expect it to slowly moderate downwards."
y are you surprised? watever climate we are in, still must eat rite? the hawker aunite and food court uncle wanna increase price u also suck thumb and buy.. wat to do.. and dun be surprised if they still increase somemore.. in sg everything goes up but nvr down. (except your wages)
Hi, you may have been mistaken that inflation 'could still hit 2.9%'. Inflation rate has in fact fallen from last year, and it's a record low, considering S'pore's rapid economic growth from 2006 to 2007.
I may be wrong, but Lunar New Year was in Jan, so the rise in food prices can be attributed to it. I'm unsure why healthcare cost is rising, but are you comparing Jan 2009 with Jan 2008 or Dec 2008 with Jan 2009? I suppose healthcare costs will continue rising, as medicine and labour become more costly.
This is not really true. If compared to December 2008, inflation is only down marginally by 0.1%. It's also not a record low because our inflation rates back before the rise to 7% GST is around 1+% average if my memory serves me correctly.
I've always compare year on year because spendings are usually seasonal. Comparing with the previous month is usually not accurate because of seasonal peaks. A better gauge would be to compare with the same month, a year ago. Last year's Jan's inflation was 6.6%. The lowest inflation rate when the GST was raised to 7% was about 2.6%. I expected it to be lower than that.
However you're right that the CNY might distort the figures somewhat as the previous CNY is in Feb.
But still, I do not follow the belief that prices will always rise. It's still a question of demand and supply. Non-essential surgeries will be cut down. Look at the price of Lasik now? It is falling every year.
That's why I'm surprised that the 2 sectors are still holding up that well. I expected a not so good CNY boost. Looks like I underestimated the strength of CNY.
Not everything has to be more expensive every year. You can find $1.50 chicken rice, if you know the area well. The problem now is that all the rentals have increased drastically due to the property revaluation. The shop owners have no choice but to raise prices, otherwise they would be kicked out.
Want to see lower price? Sadly, you'll need the property values to be lowered before you see that. The chances of the property values being lowered? Not likely, considering that if this happens, people might get into trouble with banks with regards to their mortgage loan.
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