In April, prices of food advanced 1.4 percent from a year earlier, the same pace as in March. Among food excluding food servicing services, cost increased for: milk, cheese & eggs (0.7 percent); oils & fats (4.5 percent); sugar, preserves & confectionery (2.5 percent); other food (0.8 percent); non-alcoholic beverages (2.1 percent); fish and seafood (1.9 percent) and bread & cereals (0.5 percent) while prices were unchanged for vegetables. Among food servicing services, prices went up for all categories: restaurant foods (1.7 percent); fast food (0.1 percent); hawker food including food courts (1.7 percent), and catered food (0.3 percent).
Meantime, cost went up at a slower pace for: healthcare (2 percent from 2.1 percent in March); education (2.9 percent from 3 percent, due to a 3 percent rise in tuition & other fees and a 0.3 percent gain in school textbooks & related study guides); miscellaneous goods & services (0.5 percent from 1 percent). Also, prices of household durables & services went up by 0.7 percent (the same as in the prior month). In addition, cost fell more for transport (-0.7 percent from -0.5 percent), largely due to a 0.8 percent drop in private road transport and a 1.1 percent decrease in public road transport; and housing & utilities (-2.3 percent from -2 percent, mainly due to a 3.6 percent decline in accomodation); and communication (-1.3 percent from -0.3 percent).
On the other hand, inflation ticked up for recreation & culture (0.7 percent from 0.6 percent), driven by a 0.4 percent rise in recreation & entertainment, a 0.1 percent increase in newspapers an entertainment, and a 1.1 percent rise in holiday expenses.
Core consumer prices which exclude costs of accommodation and private road transport, increased by 1.3 percent, following a 1.5. percent gain in February and slightly below expectations of 1.4 percent. It is the lowest inflation since March 2017.
On a month-on-month basis, consumer prices declined by 0.5 percent in April, compared to a 0.2 percent fall in a month earlier.