Source : The Straits Times, Apr 15, 2008
SINGAPORE'S inflation will remain high in the first half of the year at above 6.5 per cent, the country's trade minister said on Tuesday, despite the central bank tightening monetary policy last week to fight rising prices.
'Our projection is that inflation will stay fairly high at this current level, above 6.5 per cent for the first half of the year. And then we expect it to go down in the second half of the year,' Trade Minister Lim Hng Kiang told reporters on the sidelines of a conference.
The government's official forecast is for full-year inflation at the upper end of a 4.5-5.5 per cent range, after annual inflation climbed to 6.6 per cent in January, the highest since 1982.
The comments came after Singapore's central bank last week tightened monetary policy to fight soaring prices by allowing its currency to rise.
Mr Lim said that monetary policy was one of several levers, such as fiscal policies, to tackle rising prices.
The country's export-dependent economy, whose performance is seen by economists as a barometer of demand for Asian goods, expanded at an annualised, seasonally adjusted rate of 16.9 per cent in the first quarter - far stronger than expected. -- REUTERS
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