Singapore’s consumer prices climbed in January as transportation and healthcare costs rose amid an economic recovery that has spurred demand for goods and services.

The consumer price index rose 0.2% from a year earlier, the Department of Statistics said in a statement in Singapore today, said Bloomberg. The index this month reflects a change in the base year to 2009 from 2004. Prices climbed 0.7% from December, without adjusting for seasonal factors.

Singapore’s inflation rate will probably average between 2% and 3% this year, from a previous estimate of between 2.5% and 3.5%, the government said last week. The revision is a result of a rebasing of the consumer price index, it said.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore, which uses its currency rather than interest rates to manage price gains, maintained a no-appreciation stance in its exchange-rate policy in October.

 

Housing prices, the biggest component of the consumer price index, fell 2.4% in January from a year earlier. Food prices rose 0.1%, while transport and communications costs increased 7.1% in the same period.

 

Housing prices rose 2.6% last month from December as Singapore Power, the island’s main electricity provider, increased tariffs for the January-to-March quarter by an average 5.4% because of higher oil costs.