Fewer Singaporeans expect inflation to decline: DBS, SMU survey

According to the Singapore Index of Inflation Expectations (SInDEx) survey released by DBS Group and SMU's Sim Kee Boon Institute for Financial Economics, Singaporeans believe that inflation levels have peaked and will start to slow down over the next year. The quarterly online survey, now in its 49th edition, found that Singaporeans’ inflation expectations dropped from 4.9% in June 2023 to 4.5% in September. SMU Assistant Professor of finance Aurobindo Ghosh, and founding Principal Investigator of the SInDEx project, noted that recent academic literature has revealed certain behavioural biases creeping into responses of those who are exposed to more volatile grocery and gasoline prices when asked about subjective inflation expectations. As such, the survey has attempted to address some of these biases through multiple methods of finding inflation expectations of respondents while providing them with relevant information to make a more informed judgement, said Asst Prof Ghosh.