According to the Singapore Index of Inflation Expectations (SInDEx) released on Monday, consumers polled in December expect overall inflation for 2013 to stand at 3.72 per cent. This is lower than their one-year inflation expectation of 3.85 per cent recorded in September, besides being the lowest level recorded since the quarterly index was first produced in September 2011. Explaining why households seem to have higher inflation expectations, Project Director of the Sim Kee Boon Institute for Financial Economics at SMU Assistant Professor of Finance (Education) Aurobindo Ghosh, who co-created the SInDEx, said: "The levels of information available to households, policymakers or professional economists could be quite different. While policymakers and economists are more concerned with the macroeconomic outlook and conditions, individual households base their decisions on past experience and their expectations of possible escalating cost of living, particularly for commonly purchased items.

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