Singapore’s inflation rate last month rose to the highest level since December 2008, adding pressure on the central bank to damp price gains by allowing greater currency appreciation.

The consumer price index increased 4.6% in December from a year earlier, after climbing 3.8% in November, the Department of Statistics said in a statement today. The median estimate of 13 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for a 4.5% gain. Prices rose 0.2% from November, without adjusting for seasonal factors.

 

Singapore’s rebound last year from a 2009 global recession has fueled inflation, prompting the island to tighten monetary policy through faster currency gains and take steps to cool the property market. Private home prices rose to a record in 2010, while the cost of car-ownership permits surged as the economy expanded an unprecedented 14.7%.