SINGAPORE – Singapore’s core consumer prices unexpectedly rose at a slower pace in April, though the pass-through of higher global energy prices will likely raise electricity, transport and production costs in the coming months.Core inflation, which excludes private transport and accommodation to better reflect household expenses, eased to 1.4 per cent from 1.7 per cent in March.Economists polled by Bloomberg had forecast core inflation to rise to 1.8 per cent.The drop in core inflation was due to lower services as well as retail and other goods inflation, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) said in a joint release on May 25.Overall inflation came in at 1.8 per cent in April, unchanged from March, because higher private transport and accommodation inflation was offset by lower core inflation.MTI and MAS reiterated that Singapore’s imported cost pressures are expected to pick up and broaden in the months ahead.“As higher energy and other input costs arising from the developments in the Middle East pass through global supply chains, they will raise production and transport costs for a wider range of Singapore’s imported goods and services,” they said.Indeed, outside of core inflation, private transport inflation saw the biggest jump - from 6.6 per cent in March to 8.1 per cent in April - on the back of larger increases in petrol and car prices.Electricity and gas prices fell at a slower pace of 3 per cent in April compared with 4.3 per cent in March due to a smaller decline in electricity prices.MTI and MAS said that the regulated electricity tariff for each quarter is set based on the average natural gas prices in the first 2½ months of the preceding quarter, among other factors.Hence, the higher global energy prices over April to May will only be reflected in the regulated electricity tariff in the third quarter of 2026, starting from July.Mr Zavier Wong, market analyst at eToro, said the softer inflation reading was a “mild positive surprise”, driven largely by a pullback in health insurance costs and lower telecommunications prices, which he described as “relatively one-off in nature”.But he noted that disruptions to the Strait of Hormuz have kept oil prices elevated through much of the March-April period, with higher input costs likely to take time to feed through global supply chains and into Singapore’s import prices.“Services inflation dipping to 1.5 per cent and retail goods easing indicates that demand is softening at the margin,” said Mr Wong.“Households are likely turning more cautious, and that caution may end up being tested again before the year is out.”Retail and other goods inflation slowed to 1.5 per cent in April from 1.8 per cent in March, as water price inflation eased.Services inflation eased to 1.5 per cent in April from 2.1 per cent in March, mainly due to a smaller increase in health insurance costs, as well as lower telecommunication services prices.Food inflation was unchanged at 1.6 per cent, as non-cooked food and food services inflation in April was similar to that in March.Accommodation inflation crept up from 0.3 per cent in March to 0.4 per cent in April due to a larger increase in housing rents.Mr Chua Han Teng, senior economist at DBS Bank noted that while Singapore’s food inflation remained “tame” in April, higher fertiliser costs stemming from supply disruptions in the Middle East could push up agricultural prices in the months ahead.Lower crop yields may in turn place upward pressure on both global food prices and food inflation in Singapore, he added. Looking ahead, eToro’s Mr Wong said there is a “credible path” to some relief in imported costs in the second half of 2026, as peace talks between the United States and Iran appear to be progressing and oil prices have retreated from recent highs.But there is still uncertainty, he noted.“There has sometimes been a gap between what is being said and the actual outcome, and that gap is where markets have been caught off guard before,” said Mr Wong.“One softer inflation reading is welcome, but it may be premature to treat it as the turning point,” he added.MAS and MTI maintained their forecasts made in April for overall and core inflation to average at 1.5 per cent to 2.5 per cent.Domestic consumer spending could turn more cautious amid rising economic uncertainty, while wage growth before adjusting for inflation is likely to ease from the firm levels in 2025, they said.