Singapore Inflation Calculator

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is Singapore's principal measure of household inflation, compiled monthly by the Department of Statistics Singapore (SingStat). It tracks the percentage change in the price of a basket of goods and services typically purchased by Singapore resident households.

The 2024-based CPI basket includes about 6,800 brands and varieties priced from approximately 4,500 outlets, classified into 10 main expenditure divisions based on the Classification of Individual Consumption According to Purpose (COICOP). The CPI is published on the 23rd of each month.

The annual CPI-All Items inflation rate was 1.8% in the 12 months to May 2026 (released 23 June 2026), unchanged from April and March.

The largest contributor was Private Transport (+8.6%) - driven by larger increases in car and motorcycle prices - followed by Food (+1.8%) and Retail & Other Goods (+1.6%). MAS Core Inflation (which excludes accommodation and private transport) was 1.4%, broadly unchanged from April, as higher food and retail goods inflation was offset by lower services inflation.

The 2024-based CPI basket contains 10 main expenditure divisions. The largest weights are:

• Housing & Utilities: 29.4%
• Food: 20.4%
• Transport: 13.1%
• Health: 10.1%
• Recreation, Sport & Culture: 5.9%

Other categories include Education, Household Durables & Services, Miscellaneous Goods & Services, Information & Communication, and Clothing & Footwear. Weights reflect the share of total household expenditure on each category, derived from the Household Expenditure Survey 2023 and updated to 2024 values. SingStat rebases the CPI every five years.

CPI-All Items is the headline measure - it includes all 10 expenditure divisions in the basket.

MAS Core Inflation excludes the costs of Accommodation and Private Transport from CPI-All Items. These categories are excluded because they are heavily affected by administrative policies (COE quotas, government rebates, S&CC) that can be volatile, and imputed rentals on owner-occupied accommodation do not affect the cash spending of most households (about 90% of Singaporeans own their homes).

This helps MAS see through temporary or volatile movements to understand persistent inflation pressures. In May 2026, headline CPI was 1.8% while MAS Core was 1.4%.

SingStat publishes the CPI monthly, typically on the 23rd of each month (or the next working day if the 23rd is a weekend or public holiday). MAS and the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) issue a joint commentary on consumer price developments alongside each release.

Yearly figures are derived by taking a simple average of the 12 monthly indices. Quarterly and half-yearly indices are derived similarly. The latest base year is 2024 = 100, with the next rebasing scheduled for 2029-based CPI (every five years).

Not exactly. The CPI measures price changes for a fixed basket of goods. Cost-of-living measures show the change in spending needed to maintain a given standard of living - they can allow for substitution between products when relative prices change.

SingStat publishes additional indicators including CPI by Household Income Group (Lowest 20%, Middle 60%, Highest 20%), which show how inflation differs across income brackets. In 2024, the highest-income group saw the smallest CPI rise excluding accommodation, partly because car prices fell and cars are a larger share of their basket.

Unlike most central banks that use interest rates, MAS conducts monetary policy by managing the Singapore Dollar Nominal Effective Exchange Rate (S$NEER) - a trade-weighted basket of currencies from Singapore's major trading partners.

MAS allows the S$NEER to float within a policy band and adjusts the band's slope (rate of appreciation), width, and centre level to ensure medium-term price stability. The framework is sometimes summarised as Basket, Band, and Crawl. Because Singapore is a small, highly open economy where imports and exports exceed 300% of GDP, the exchange rate has a stronger influence on inflation than the interest rate.

On 14 April 2026, MAS tightened monetary policy for the first time since 2022 - slightly increasing the rate of appreciation of the S$NEER policy band, with no change to its width or centre. The decision responded to higher imported energy costs from Middle East supply disruptions, which are expected to push CPI-All Items and MAS Core inflation higher over coming quarters.

This reverses the easing cycle from January and April 2025, when MAS reduced the slope twice as inflation came under control. The April 2026 tightening lifted MAS's 2026 inflation forecast: CPI-All Items and MAS Core both projected at 1.5-2.5%. MAS publishes its Monetary Policy Statement twice a year, in April and October.

Singapore is a small, highly open economy. Gross exports and imports exceed 300% of GDP, and almost 40 cents of every dollar spent domestically is on imported content. This means the exchange rate has a much stronger influence on inflation than the interest rate.

A stronger Singapore dollar makes imports cheaper, directly reducing price pressures. With open capital markets and the exchange rate as MAS's policy tool, domestic interest rates (such as 3-month SORA) are largely determined by foreign rates and expectations of S$ movements - MAS does not directly set them.

The S$NEER policy band is the range within which MAS allows the Singapore dollar's trade-weighted exchange rate to move. It has three parameters MAS can adjust:

• Slope - the rate of appreciation (or depreciation) of the band's mid-point over time. A steeper slope is tighter policy.
• Width - how far the S$NEER can move around the mid-point.
• Centre - the level the band is centred on.

MAS uses spot foreign exchange intervention as the primary tool to keep the S$NEER within the band. The S$/USD pair is the most-used intervention instrument because it is the most liquid S$ currency pair.

MAS does not target a fixed numerical inflation band. Its April 2026 forecast projects CPI-All Items and MAS Core both averaging 1.5-2.5% across 2026 as a whole - revised up from earlier forecasts to reflect higher imported energy costs.

Core inflation troughed in late 2025 and is expected to rise gradually as the Middle East-driven supply shock works through. The April 2026 tightening is intended to ensure imported price pressures do not lead to broader, more persistent inflation. Risks remain tilted to the upside, particularly if energy supply disruptions are prolonged.

Housing & Utilities is the largest CPI category at 29.4% of the basket. The main components are Imputed Rentals for Housing (the cost to homeowners of using their home, proxied by market rentals), Actual Rentals, Housing Maintenance & Repairs, and Utilities & Other Fuels.

In April 2026, Housing & Utilities rose only +0.2% annually - much slower than the overall CPI - partly due to softer rental markets and additional Service & Conservancy Charges (S&CC) rebates. About 90% of Singaporeans own their homes, so imputed rental changes do not affect their actual cash spending. This is why MAS Core Inflation excludes accommodation.

Transport prices rose 7.0% in the year to April 2026 - up from 6.0% in March - making it the single largest contributor to headline inflation. In May 2026, private transport inflation rose further to 8.6% on larger increases in car and motorcycle prices. The surge primarily reflects the conflict in the Middle East, which has constrained shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and pushed global oil and natural gas prices materially higher.

Singapore imports almost all its energy, so global oil prices flow directly into petrol prices and transport-related CPI. The April 2026 MAS tightening was largely a response to this imported cost shock. MAS Core Inflation excludes private transport, which is why it eased to 1.4% in April even as headline CPI held at 1.8%.

Singapore's GST rose in two stages: from 7% to 8% on 1 January 2023, and from 8% to 9% on 1 January 2024. Each increase added a step-up to headline CPI in the implementation year.

MAS and SingStat report inflation figures both including and excluding the GST hike effect to show underlying price pressures. The Government provided GST Vouchers and other support to offset the impact on households, particularly lower-income groups. By late 2025, the direct GST effect had largely passed through, and the GST hike no longer adds to year-on-year CPI from 2025 onwards.

Food makes up 20.4% of the CPI basket - the second largest category. In May 2026, Food inflation was +1.8% annually. Singapore imports more than 90% of its food, making domestic food prices highly sensitive to global commodity markets, supply chain conditions, and the SGD exchange rate.

Unlike most countries, Singapore's MAS Core Inflation includes non-cooked food prices because they reflect genuine cost pressures in this import-dependent economy. Food & Beverage Serving Services (eating out - including hawker centres, food courts, and restaurants) accounts for more than two-thirds of the overall Food weight.

Inflation erodes the real value of money. If a savings account earns 2% interest while inflation is 3%, the real return is negative - purchasing power decreases by approximately 1% over the year.

CPF provides some inflation protection: the Ordinary Account earns 2.5% (or higher, based on a benchmark of major local banks' rates), Special/Medisave/Retirement Accounts earn 4%, and the first SGD 60,000 of combined balances earns an extra 1%. With May 2026 inflation at 1.8%, CPF returns currently exceed inflation, providing positive real returns. Bank savings rates vary widely - comparing returns against inflation is a standard step in assessing whether savings maintain real value.

An inflation calculator helps illustrate how the value of money has changed over time. Common uses include:

• Calculating what an item that cost SGD 100 in 1990 would cost today, adjusted for inflation.
• Estimating how much a salary needs to increase to maintain the same purchasing power.
• Understanding the real value of historical prices when reading historical financial information.

The Money Snap calculator above uses official SingStat CPI data covering 64 years (1961-2025).