Consumers face higher costs of transport, housing and food

The consumer price index moved up by 2.7 percent in June 2010, with higher prices of cars and petrol contributing to the 10.3 percent increase in the cost of transport.

According to the Singapore Department of Statistics, the rise in comparison with 2009 reflected mainly higher costs of transport, housing and food. A SingStat release said, "Following higher electricity and gas tariffs, housing cost rose by 2.3 percent. Food prices went up by 1.2 percent as a result of increased prices of prepared meals, vegetables, rice & other cereals as well as chilled meat."

In addition, the consumer price index in the first half of 2010 rose by 2.0 percent compared with the same period in 2009.