Singapore consumer prices dip for 21 straight months

This has been the longest stretch of negative inflation seen here since 1977.

Overall consumer prices fell 0.7 per cent last month from July last year, according to data from the Statistics Department released yesterday.
The decline was slightly higher than economists' forecasts of a |0.5 per cent decrease and the same as the decline in June.
Private road transport costs, which includes cars, slid 4.4 per cent year-on-year. The cost of fuel and utilities also fell 8.9 per cent compared with the same month a year ago.
However, prices elsewhere in the economy continued to edge upwards.
Food prices rose 2.1 per cent in July compared with the same month a year ago, while the cost of household durables and services also increased 3.2 per cent.
Core inflation, which strips out accommodation and private road transport costs to better gauge everyday expenses, ticked up 1 per cent.
The MAS expects core inflation to pick up gradually over the course of the year, partly because oil prices are expected to be slightly higher in this half of the year |compared with the first half.