According to the SKBI-MasterCard Singapore Index of Inflation Expectations (SInDEx), local households interviewed expect inflation to fall from 3.85 per cent to 3.72 per cent this year. They also expect core inflation to drop from 4.03 per cent last September to 3.88 per cent. The index is jointly developed by the Sim Kee Boon Institute for Financial Economics at SMU (SKBI) and MasterCard. SKBI Project Director Assistant Professor Aurobindo Ghosh said that cooling measures for properties and cars have had an effect on inflation. Also, imported inflation from ASEAN economies is falling, and the prices of food and other commodities are rising at a slower rate. SInDEx1, which measures inflation predictions for the next one year, and SInDEx5, which measures inflation predictions for the next five years, fell 3.8 per cent and 4.56 per cent respectively from the last survey in September last year. Assistant Prof Ghosh said that the predictions from the survey are higher than official estimates, because families make predictions based on their past experience, whereas the government and economists make forecasts based on the macro outlook. Four hundred consumers were surveyed to compile the indices.