Consumer price index

The CPI is designed to measure the average price changes of a fixed basket of consumption goods and services commonly purchased by resident households over time. It measures price movements (i.e., changes in prices) but not absolute price levels at a point in time.

How is the CPI used?

•    As a measure of consumer price inflation
•    As inputs in the formulation of government policies
•    As a means of deriving real values in the compilation of economic statistics

•    As a measure of consumer price inflation
•    As inputs in the formulation of government policies
•    As a means of deriving real values in the compilation of economic statistics

The CPI is rebased once every five years to reflect the latest consumption patterns and composition of goods and services consumed by resident households. The latest base year for the CPI is 2024.

•    Consumption expenditure incurred by resident households are covered in the CPI
•    Includes goods and services commonly purchased by resident households from a wide range of retailers and service providers
•    About 6,800 brands/varieties from 4,500 outlets are selected in the 2024-based CPI

The CPI weights reflect the relative importance of each good or service in the basket. The weighting pattern for the 2024-based CPI was derived from the expenditure values obtained from the Household Expenditure Survey (HES) 2023, and updated to 2024 values by taking into account price changes between 2023 and 2024.

As the CPI is compiled on a monthly basis, the yearly index is derived by taking a simple average of the 12 months’ indices for the year. Likewise, the annual inflation rate for any year is computed by taking the ratio of the index for the current year compared with that of the preceding year.

Similarly, the derivation of the quarterly and half-yearly indices and inflation rates are computed accordingly based on their corresponding monthly indices.

For more information on the weighting pattern for 2024-based CPI, please refer to Weighting pattern for 2024-based Consumer Price Index. 

Accommodation, one of the groups in the Housing & Utilities expenditure division of the CPI, comprises Actual Rentals for Housing, Imputed Rentals for Housing, as well as Housing Maintenance & Repairs.

A significant share of the Accommodation group is Imputed Rentals for Housing, which reflects the costs to homeowners of utilising the flow of services provided by their homes over an extended period of time. Given the cost of using housing services is not directly observed for homeowners, it is computed based on the imputed rental concept under the rental equivalence method, i.e. proxied by market rentals of similar properties. This provides an estimated rental value for the owned home, as though the homeowners were renting it from themselves. Housing price is not considered in the CPI as it has a high investment component and is treated as a capital good.

Imputed Rentals have no impact on the cash expenditures of most households in Singapore as they already own their homes.

Prices are obtained via postal/email enquiries, electronic returns, webscraping data or Application Programming Interface (API) from relevant websites and administrative data. Prices of perishable food items and those at hawker centres, coffee shops and food courts are collected by field interviewers using handheld devices.

The frequency of data collection depends on the price behaviour of the good or service. Prices of goods and services that are more prone to fluctuations (e.g. perishable food items such as fish, seafood and vegetables) are collected more frequently to obtain more reliable estimates of price changes. Those with more stable prices such as Service and Conservancy Charges (S&CC) for Housing and Development Board (HDB) flats, utility tariffs, bus/train fares, school fees, medical services and household durables are priced monthly, quarterly, half-yearly, yearly or as and when the prices/rates change.

For more information, you may view the New Collection Methods for the Compilation of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) Infographic and video on How are Prices Collected for the Compilation of Consumer Price Index?

The CPI reflects the collective experience of inflation for all resident households. It may not correspond to the inflation experience of any particular individual or household as spending patterns are unique.

Depending on the goods and services purchased by each individual household, changes in prices will impact each household to a different extent. Those who spend more on those items with rapid price increases will feel a greater impact of inflation than others, and vice versa.

For more information, you may view the Why does the Reported Inflation Differ from My Personal Experience? Infographic and video on Price Changes and the Consumer Price Index.

The CPI is released on the 23rd of every month, or on the following working day if the 23rd falls on a weekend or a public holiday.

Products priced in the CPI basket may change in terms of quantity or packaging size over time. When a smaller quantity of a product is sold for the same price, there is an implicit price increase. This is known as ‘Shrinkflation’, where consumers are paying the same amount of money but getting less. The CPI accounts for such changes in quantity, where possible, by adjusting the price data of the items based on a fixed unit of measurement (e.g. price per 100g).

Figure below illustrates how the CPI accounts for 'Shrinkflation'.

Various government schemes have been introduced over the years to support individuals and households, especially the lower income groups. These measures vary from cash or near-cash support, which are considered income transfers and are out of scope of the CPI, to those that directly lower the final prices faced by individuals and households which are hence reflected in the CPI.

 Some relevant measures impacting the CPI include Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS) from the Ministry of Education (MOE), Community Health Assist Scheme (CHAS) subsidies, Service and Conservancy Charges (S&CC) rebates, levy concession for migrant domestic workers, road tax rebates, preschool subsidies for infant care, childcare and kindergartens, etc.

The price data used in the compilation of the CPI are obtained from a wide range of retailers and service providers commonly patronised by resident households. For this latest CPI series, more granular CPI data and average retail prices of more consumer goods are released to allow users to track price changes at more detailed levels. Specifically, average retail prices of some 85 items are published, an expansion from the 72 items in the 2019-based CPI. 

These items generally have higher weights and/ or adequate consistent price quotations to establish meaningful and reliable average prices. Some examples include food items such as rice, chilled chicken, hen eggs, chicken rice, coffee/ tea without milk, as well as non-food items such as petrol. 

Prices of items starting from January 2024 are based on the 2024-based CPI basket. While they are indicative of the average transaction price levels in the same base period, they are not a measure of pure price movements across CPI baskets due to changes in the sample of brands/varieties and outlets priced.

To facilitate comparison and analysis, detailed historical CPI data are also made available on the SingStat Website.

Please refer to the article on "Singapore: Is it really the most expensive place to live" on the Government’s Factually Website. 

Highest level of the Consumer Price Index (CPI), containing all the divisions, groups and classes.

Average retail prices are estimated based on the price quotes obtained from retailers and service providers as part of the monthly collection of consumer prices and converted to a fixed unit of measurement (e.g. price per 100g, per litre, per plate).

The base year is the period with which all the other periods are compared. The base year for the current Consumer Price Index (CPI) is 2024 and the index for 2024 is set equal to 100 points.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is designed to measure the average price changes of a fixed basket of consumption goods and services commonly purchased by resident households over time. It is widely used as a measure of consumer price inflation.

A household refers to

(i) a group of two or more persons living together in the same house and sharing common food or other essential arrangements for living; or
(ii) a person living alone or a person living with others but having his own food or other essential arrangements for living.

Although persons may be living in the same house, they may not be members of the same household.

Imputed Rentals for Housing reflects the costs to homeowners of utilising the flow of services provided by their homes over an extended period of time. Given that the cost of using housing services is not directly observed for homeowners, it is computed based on the imputed rental concept under the rental equivalence method, i.e. proxied by market rentals of similar properties.

This provides an estimated rental value for the owned home, as though the homeowner were renting it from themselves. Imputed rentals have no impact on the cash expenditures of most households in Singapore as they already own their homes.

A term commonly used to refer to changes in price levels over a period of time. The annual inflation rate for any year is computed by taking the ratio of the CPI for the current year compared with that of the preceding year.

This measures the change in CPI between two periods. For example, the annual inflation rate for a specific year is computed by comparing the average for the 12 monthly indices with that for the preceding year.

The change in the price of a good or service of which the characteristics are unchanged; or after adjusting for any change in quality.

A composite measure of the prices of items expressed relative to a defined base period.

The measure of the relative importance of each good or service in the basket, that is, their share as a proportion of total household expenditure.