Singapore's core inflation edges up in April; price risks seen tilted to downside
SINGAPORE, May 23 (Reuters) - Singapore's key consumer price gauge came in above expectations in April, data showed on Friday, but it remained at a low level and authorities said the risks to inflation were tilted to the downside given the uncertain global economic environment.
The annual core inflation rate, which excludes private road transport and accommodation costs, was 0.7% in April, above the median forecast of 0.5% in a Reuters poll of economists and also the March reading of 0.5%.
Headline inflation was 0.9% in annual terms in April, steady with March's reading and a notch higher than economists' forecast of a 0.8% rate.
The rise in the annual core inflation rate was the first since September last year, when it had ticked up to 2.8%.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore loosened monetary policy for the second time this year at a review in April, reflecting concerns about its growth outlook amid economic uncertainty from U.S. tariffs. It also reduced its forecasts for both core and headline inflation to 0.5% to 1.5%.
"The risks to inflation are tilted towards the downside given heightened uncertainties in the external environment," the MAS and Trade Ministry said in a statement on the data.
Singapore last month also downgraded its GDP forecast for 2025 to 0% to 2% from the previous 1% to 3%, citing the direct and indirect impacts of the U.S. tariffs, and officials have said there is a risk of recession in the city-state.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
The Black hair industry imports products from China. Here's what tariffs mean for braids and wigs
Before the oppressive summer heat descends on Atlanta, therapist Brittanee Sims usually gets her thick, curly hair braided at a salon to preserve her healthy mane. But it's more expensive this year. So she'll only pay for her teenage daughter and son to get their summer hairdos. Not having braided hair 'creates more of a hassle for everything,' said Sims, who counts herself among the tens of millions of women that regularly spend on the Black hair care industry. Now, she said, she has to 'go home and figure out what I'm gonna do to my hair in the morning, after I went to the gym and it's messed up with sweating and frizz.' President Donald Trump's tariffs are driving up prices for products many Black women consider essential, squeezing shoppers and stylists even more as they grapple with inflation and higher rents. Much of the synthetic braiding hair, human hair for extensions, wigs and weaves, styling tools, braiding gel and other products is imported from or has packaging from China, which was subject to a combined 145% tariff in April. Many Black women have hair types and workplace-favored styles that require careful attention, and they can spend hundreds of dollars at salons each month on extensions, weaves, wigs and braids. The Associated Press spoke with several Black hair industry experts, beauty supply store owners, and wholesale companies, as well as nearly two dozen Black stylists and braiders, some of whom may have to raise prices even as business has slowed. On Thursday, a federal appeals court reinstated most of Trump's tariffs on imported goods after they were blocked the day before by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of International Trade. Earlier this month, the United States agreed to drop the 145% tax on goods imported from China to 30% while the two economic superpowers negotiate new trade agreements. Imports from most other countries face baseline tariff rates at 10%. Regardless, the next few months 'are already shot' for many items, said Marty Parker, a University of Georgia business professor and supply chain expert who worked in the hair care industry. The costs companies have been facing at ports are making their way down to consumers, supply shortages are getting worse, and it's unclear what will happen if negotiations break down. 'Prices go up very fast and come down very slow,' Parker said. Costs go up for Atlanta stylists Some stylists said they're seeing fewer clients because prices are going up for virtually everything. Atlanta stylists are paying more for hair from China. Atlanta stylist Yana Ellis, who also sells products like wigs, paid an extra $245 in shipping for 52 bundles of hair in March compared to 40 bundles in December. AaNiyah Butler said her shipping costs for human hair more than doubled from February to May. And Dajiah Blackshear found in early May that a beauty supply store raised the cost of the kind of hair she's used for years by $100. The store owner said he may have to stop selling that brand of hair because it went up so much. Similarly, some wholesale hair stores have seen higher costs or are expecting them in the coming weeks. Even the typical $6 to $10 cost of a pack of synthetic hair has crept up. Blackshear doesn't want clients to bring hair because she likes to vet the quality. But if expenses continue to mount, she may have to raise her prices. 'It's going to be extremely difficult,' she said, especially for clients who are "having to make those hard decisions, between 'do I get my hair done or do I pay my bills?'' Janice Lowe, who runs 5 Starr Salon in a lower-income neighborhood southeast of Atlanta, has started asking clients to bring hair and is unable to purchase certain products. 'I'm falling behind on my obligations,' she said. The industry braces for uncertainty Consultants vary on how much prices will rise, when they'll go up and for how long — and the full harm to stylists and consumers could be months away. The global Black hair care industry was worth about $3.2 billion in 2023, according to and Black women spend six times more on hair care than other ethnicities. Stylists often purchase some harder-to-get professional products from door-to-door distributors that buy from wholesale companies or larger distributors that purchase directly from other countries. Lowe has seen some of her distributors vanish altogether, making it harder to get professional lines such as Black-owned leading professional hair care brand Design Essentials, manufactured in Atlanta at McBride Research Laboratories. Design Essentials is trying to delay big price increases until 2026 or 2027, and may turn to layoffs or pause promotions to save money, said president Cornell McBride Jr. Most packaging plastics come from China, but ingredients can come from many places. 'Nobody wants to put it to the consumer but the person who pays is the consumer in the end,' McBride Jr. said. Hawa Keita and her mother usually charge customers between $160 and $250 for braiding at their shop, Eve's African Hair Braiding in College Park southwest of Atlanta. Keita is determined to take losses because their customers 'can't afford the Atlanta prices,' Keita said. The cost of a box of 100 packs of braiding hair from China went up for the first time in two years, from $250 to $300, Keita said. They order weekly, often multiple boxes. Some companies say they'll soon raise prices or run out of stock. Making customers happy is ultimately what will keep the business afloat, Keita said. She smiled as she recounted braiding a young woman's hair for her birthday with a style she suggested. 'When we finished, she gave me the biggest hug, and she was in here screaming and just yelling because she just really loved her hair,' Keita said. Priced-out consumers face unfair beauty standards For many Black Americans, especially women, affording their hair care also means confronting unfavorable beauty standards. Georgia State University law professor Tanya Washington said recent discoveries about dangerous chemicals in synthetic hair and hair straightening products have sparked conversations among Black women looking for hairstyles that don't require as much imported products. But embracing natural hairdos can be daunting for women like the soon-to-be lawyers and clerks Washington advises who face pressure to straighten their hair. 'That puts everyone who does not have organically, naturally derived straight hair at a disadvantage in these spaces,' she said. 'I think that a definition of professionalism that favors one phenotype — European phenotype — over all others, is inappropriate." Longstanding income disparities between Black and white American women can also make higher hair care prices untenable. According to the U.S. Census, as of 2023, the median household income in Atlanta is $131,319 for white households and $47,937 for Black households. It's an inequality issue that professional hairstylists are aware of nationwide. Stylist Mitzi Mitchell, owner of PIC ONE Beauty Services in Pennsylvania, said she has stocked up on certain products and tools for another year in anticipation of price increases. She wants to avoid 'bootleg' products, which are made illegally and often aren't as safe, but became much more prevalent in the marketplace during economic downturns. 'I'm really conscientious about my Black minority clients because we make a heck of a lot less than other nationalities,' said Mitchell, who is Black. 'I try to keep prices low so we can continue to have the same services, but I know I will have to raise it.' ___
Telegraph
4 hours ago
- Telegraph
Chinese invasion of Taiwan is ‘imminent,' warns US
A Chinese invasion of Taiwan 'could be imminent' Pete Hegseth, the US defence secretary, has warned, as he claimed Beijing was 'credibly preparing' to use military force to upend the 'balance of power in the Indo-Pacific'. 'The threat China poses is real and it could be imminent,' Mr Hegseth said at the Shangri-La Dialogue, a security conference attended by defence officials from around the world. Mr Hegseth warned the Chinese forces were building the capabilities to invade Taiwan and 'rehearsing for the real deal'. Beijing has ramped up military pressure on Taiwan and held multiple large-scale exercises around the island, often described as preparations for a blockade or invasion. The US was 'reorienting toward deterring aggression by communist China', Hegseth said, calling on US allies and partners in Asia to swiftly upgrade their defences in the face of mounting threats. The Pentagon chief made the remarks at an annual security forum in Singapore as Donald Trump's administration sparred with Beijing on trade, technology and influence over strategic areas of the globe. Since taking office in January, Mr Trump has launched a trade war with China, sought to kerb its access to key AI technologies and deepened security ties with allies such as the Philippines, which is engaged in escalating territorial disputes with Beijing. Mr Hegseth described China's conduct as a 'wake-up call', accusing Beijing of endangering lives with cyber attacks, harassing its neighbours, and 'illegally seizing and militarising lands' in the South China Sea. Beijing claims almost the entire waterway, through which more than 60 per cent of global maritime trade passes, despite an international ruling that this territorial assertion has no merit. China has clashed repeatedly with the Philippines in the strategic waters in recent months, a situation that is set to dominate discussions at the Singapore defence forum, according to US officials. As Mr Hegseth spoke in Singapore, China's military announced that its navy and air force were carrying out routine 'combat readiness patrols' around the Scarborough Shoal, a chain of reefs and rocks Beijing disputes with the Philippines. 'China's assertiveness in the South China Sea has only increased in recent years,' Casey Mace, charge d'affaires at the US embassy in Singapore, said ahead of the meeting. 'I think that this type of forum is exactly the type of forum where we need to have an exchange on that.' Beijing has not sent any top defence officials to the summit, dispatching a delegation from the People's Liberation Army National Defence University instead. Mr Hegseth's hard-hitting address drew a critical reaction from Chinese analysts at the conference. Da Wei, director of the Centre for International Security and Strategy at Tsinghua University, said the speech was 'very unfriendly' and 'very confrontational'. He also accused Washington of double standards in demanding Beijing respect its neighbours while bullying its own – such as Canada and Greenland. Zhou Bo, a former senior colonel also from the centre at Tsinghua University, told AFP that training drills did not mean China would invade Taiwan, saying the government wanted 'peaceful reunification'. Mr Hegseth's comments came after Trump stoked new trade tensions with China, arguing that Beijing had 'violated' a deal to de-escalate tariffs as the world leaders appeared deadlocked in negotiations. The world's two biggest economies had agreed to temporarily lower the tariffs they had imposed on each other, pausing them for 90 days. Reassuring US allies on Saturday, Mr Hegseth said the Indo-Pacific was 'America's priority theatre', pledging to ensure ' China cannot dominate us – or our allies and partners '. He said the United States had stepped up co-operation with allies including the Philippines and Japan, and reiterated Trump's vow that 'China will not invade [Taiwan] on his watch'. The Pentagon Chief called on US partners in the region to ramp up spending on their militaries and 'quickly upgrade their own defences'. 'Asian allies should look to countries in Europe for a newfound example,' Mr Hegseth said, citing pledges by Nato members to move toward Trump's spending target of five per cent of GDP. 'Deterrence doesn't come on the cheap.' Kaja Kallas, the EU foreign policy chief who was also in Singapore, said the Trump administration's 'tough love' had helped push the continent to beef up its defences. 'It's love nonetheless, so it's better than no love,' Ms Kallas quipped when asked about Mr Hegseth's speech.
Reuters
4 hours ago
- Reuters
Chinese spying on Dutch industries 'intensifying': Dutch defence minister
SINGAPORE, May 31 (Reuters) - Chinese efforts to spy on the Dutch are intensifying, with the focus on semiconductors, Dutch Defence Minister Ruben Brekelmans said on Saturday. "The semiconductor industry, which we are technologically leading, or technology advanced, of course, to get that intellectual property - that's interesting to China," Brekelmans said in an interview on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue security meeting in Singapore. The Dutch military intelligence agency said in its annual report in April last year that Chinese spies have targeted the Dutch semiconductor, aerospace and maritime industries to try to strengthen China's armed forces. When asked if the spying had stopped, Brekelmans said: "It's continuing. In our newest intelligence reports, our intelligence agency said that the biggest cyber threat is coming from China, and that we do see most cyber activity when it comes to us being as from China. That was the case last year, but that's still the case. So we only see this intensifying." China's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Beijing routinely denies allegations of cyber espionage and says it opposes all forms of cyberattack. Dutch intelligence agencies first publicly attributed cyber espionage to China last year, when they said state-backed cyber spies had gained access to a Dutch military network in 2023. Brekelmans said security is becoming increasingly important for the Netherlands as China is "using their economic position for geopolitical purposes and also to pressure us". The minister said the Netherlands has introduced instruments to protect key industries and vital interests but the country and region also need to reduce their dependency on China for critical raw materials. "Both on the European Union level, but also on the national level, we need to make bigger steps in order to reduce those dependencies."
