Singapore - Singapore's rate of inflation slowed to 6.5 per cent in July after three consecutive months at 7.5 per cent, reported The Strait Times Tuesday.

The paper quoted the Statistics Department as saying that during the first six months of this year, the overall consumer price index (CPI) for households in the bottom 20 per cent income bracket rose 7.4 per cent, while the national mean was 7.1 per cent and richer households 6.9 per cent.

Poorer families were especially hard hit by higher food, housing and utility costs with food costs amounting to 30 per cent of the total family budget, an 8.1 per cent increase, while those in the top income bracket spent 17 per cent.

Housing costs, including the electric bill for the poor, jumped 11.6 per cent against the 9.9 per cent for the rich.

For the better off, record oil prices for petrol jumped 7.5 per cent, and vacations and taxis were more costly.

"Inflation is likely to have peaked now," said United Overseas Bank economist Ng Shing Yi, as Malaysia has cut its petrol and diesel prices and prices for food imports. (dpa)