A majority of Singaporeans (roughly 60%) expect COVID-19 to have a “moderate impact” on both economy and household inflation expectations, with the effects lasting “around one year." This is according to the latest DBS-SKBI Singapore Index of Inflation Expectations (SInDEx) Survey at the Sim Kee Boon Institute for Financial Economics (SKBI), Singapore Management University (SMU). Note that the survey was conducted prior to the “circuit breaker” period.
Melissa Ang, a student trainer in the Citi-SMU Financial Literacy Programme for Young Adults, shared in an article that one could maximise savings on online purchases by looking for promotions, receive cashback on certain sites, and to shop at sites which offer free shipping.
The latest quarterly survey for the Singapore Index of Inflation Expectations (SInDEx) from the Sim Kee Boon Institute for Financial Economics at SMU indicated that both medium-and long-term inflation expectations have cooled from three months ago, despite the potential of a trade war between the US and other major economies, particularly China.
The findings were derived from an online survey of about 500 randomly selected individuals representing a cross-section of Singaporean households. Singaporeans’ median headline inflation projection for one year from now stood at 3.11 per cent last month, down from 3.43 per cent in March. "The risk to global free trade with unilateral or retaliatory tariffs imposed pose a clear and present danger to price stability in the globalised economy," said SMU Assistant Professor of Finance Aurobindo Ghosh, who heads the SInDEx project.