Singapore's consumer price index (CPI) rose by 0.7 percent in March over the same month of last year while fell by 0.2 percent over February, according to the figures released by the Singapore Department of Statistics ( SDS) on Monday.

The price index for clothing and footwear grew by 0.5 percent in March year-on-year and that for food grew by 1.7 percent.

The CPI for health care, education and stationery grew by 1.8

and 1.2 percent respectively in the second month of this year, while the recreation and others price index rose by 1.6 percent.

Housing cost grew by 0.7 percent year-on-year in March while cost for transport and communication contracted by 1.5 percent in the same month.

For the first quarter of this year, the CPI rose by 0.5 percent over the same period of last year.

The CPI is one of the most useful indicators of inflation. It measures the change in the prices of a fixed basket of goods and services commonly purchased by the majority of households.

Source: Xinhua