Cost of living in Singapore increases

Inflation rose 5.7 per cent in August. This figure was more than expected as compared with a year ago.

According to the Department of Statistics, this was faster than the 5.15 per cent forecasted by economists.

Factors responsible for the year-on-year increase include higher cost of accommodation, private road transport and food.

Private road transport costs increased because of the rise in COE premiums.

Compared with August 2010, the cost of housing increased by 9.9 per cent due to higher accommodation cost and electricity tariffs.

Food prices also saw a 3.0 per cent increase due to the higher cost of fresh fish, diary products, eggs, meat and poultry.

In relation to the article I wrote previously about the Bank Deposits Interest Rates, how are we combating inflation effectively if we only put our savings into the banks?

Comparing to Bank Deposits Interest Rates at 0.050% per annum, we are actually losing a lot to inflation at 5.7%.