Singapore Jan core CPI rises 0.4 percent, highest in 4 months

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore's core inflation gauge rose 0.4 percent in January from a year earlier, the fastest pace in four months, data showed on Tuesday.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Ministry of Trade and Industry said they have revised down their 2016 forecast for all-items consumer inflation to a range of -1.0 percent to 0.0 percent from -0.5 percent to 0.5 percent previously.

The downward revision was due to "the significant step-down in global oil prices in recent months and the larger-than-expected decline in COE premiums at the start of the year," they said. COE premiums refer to the prices of car permits.

The MAS, however, kept its 2016 core inflation forecast unchanged at 0.5 percent to 1.5 percent. This reflected "the smaller weight of oil-related items and the exclusion of private road transport costs" from the core inflation gauge, it said.

The central bank's core inflation gauge rose at the fastest pace since September, when it edged up 0.6 percent.

The all-items consumer price index fell 0.6 percent in January from a year earlier.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected the all-items CPI to fall 0.4 percent, while the core inflation measure had been expected to rise 0.4 percent from a year earlier.

(Reporting by Masayuki Kitano; Editing by Kim Coghill)