The latest quarterly Singapore Index of Inflation Expectations survey conducted by SMU’s Sim Kee Boon Institute for Financial Economics indicated that inflation expectations remained tame as geopolitical uncertainties cool the euphoria from global economic growth. Singaporean households expect the median one-year-ahead headline inflation to inch up to 2.97 per cent from their forecast of 2.93 per cent recorded in September last year.

SMU Assistant Professor of Finance Aurobindo Ghosh, who was also the survey’s principal investigator said, "Global policy uncertainty impacts Singapore inordinately as we are a small open economy. This is especially so for policies that might be detrimental to multilateral trade, including the imposition of higher trade barriers with the ensuing volatile global prices and fluctuating currencies. Having said that, a strong Singapore dollar and global market conditions seem to have kept a lid on unhinged inflation expectations both in the medium and long term."

SMU's online poll of about 500 consumers, randomly selected to represent a cross-section of households, also found that the public now expects core inflation, which excludes accommodation and private transport costs, to rise marginally from the previous survey in September.