Higher food, housing costs push up S'pore inflation in February

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SINGAPORE, Mar 24 (AFP): Singapore's inflation rate struck an annual 6.5 per cent in February, pushed up by higher food and housing costs, the government said today.
Despite the surge, the government said underlying inflation remained stable and maintained its inflation forecast of 4.5-5.5 per cent for 2008. Inflation for 2007 was 2.1 per cent.
Higher costs in transportation and communications were also factors behind last month's surge in consumer prices, the department of statistics said in its monthly report.
On a seasonally adjusted basis, inflation in February was 0.2 per cent higher compared with January.
During February, food prices increased 6.7 per cent over last year while housing costs soared 8.8 per cent on higher rentals and property prices with transport and communications costs up 7.6 per cent.