Inflation rises to 5.0% in March 2011

On a month-on-month basis, consumer price index rose marginally by 0.1 per cent.

According to the Department of Statistics Singapore, the higher costs of housing, clothing & footwear, and "recreaion & others" were partly offset by the lower cost of transport. Excluding accomodation costs, the consumer price index remained unchanged in March 2011.

Compared to a year ago, the consumer price index went up by 5.0% , resulting mainly from higher costs of transport, housing and food. Excluding accomodation costs, the CPI was 4.2% higher.

The core inflation measure tracked by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) was 0.1 per cent on a month-on-month basis. The MAS core inflation measure was 1.8 per cent in March 2011 compared to March 2010.