Singapore’s consumer price index grew 0.9% year on year in February, marking its slowest growth in four years, the Department of Statistics said in a release on Monday.

The figure was in line with expectations by economists polled by Reuters, and lower than January’s figure of 1.2%.

Core inflation, which strips out prices of accommodation and private transport, came in at 0.6%, lower than the 0.8% seen in January and the 0.7% expected by the Reuters poll.

Inflation in Singapore has largely been on a downward trend, leading the country’s monetary authority to loosen its monetary policy for the first time since 2020 in January, citing a faster than expected decline in inflation and warning about a growth slowdown.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore forecast headline inflation to average 1.5%–2.5% in 2025, compared to 2.4% in 2024.

MAS also downgraded its forecasts for the core inflation rate in January — which strips out prices of accommodation and private transport — to an average of 1%–2% in 2025, lower than the 1.5%–2.5% projected in its October 2024 monetary policy release.

Singapore’s GDP growth is projected to grow at 1%-3% over 2025, slower than the 4.4% seen in 2024.