S'poreans expect headline inflation to rise to 2.7%: Poll

Singaporean households surveyed last month see overall or headline inflation rising to 2.7 per cent in the year ahead from 2.2 per cent in a December poll. The latest quarterly survey for the Singapore Index of Inflation Expectations (SInDEx), released by DBS Bank and SMU, polled 500 individuals representing a cross-section of Singaporean households. In a joint statement, DBS and SMU said that some semblance of normalisation and global cues of recovery with the massive roll-out of various vaccines might have buoyed inflation expectations. "A cyclical rise in commodity prices including oil price, the pace of recovery, along with record low interest rates globally have triggered a debate on increased inflation risk among practitioners, academics and policymakers," said SMU Assistant Professor of Finance (Education) and founding principal investigator of the SInDEx project Aurobindo Ghosh.