Food price inflation - a personal report

It's one of those cliches - "be careful what you wish for". I blogged just a day earlier, regarding price inflation, that "we only have to await the rest of the drinks" besides coffee, to increase in price - coffee, of course, having already increased in price by 10 cents per cup some time back at many coffeeshops nationwide. Well, apparently, "the rest of the drinks" have caught up. A cup of tea now also costs 10 cents more at the Koufu coffeeshop at Rivervale Plaza, Sengkang.

A breakfast for two with two cups of tea and two plates of roti prata used to cost a total of $4.20 last week. The same meal now costs us $5.10 - an increase of some 21%. Inflation in action. Has your salary increased 21% lately? Uh huh.

It starts and ends with oil. Of course. Having covered a part of the trajectory of events for the past few years, I should know. The timing is sort of uncanny though.

This is why I aim for 100% - or better - in my ongoing quest for portfolio returns. Because anything less could be consumed by the inflation monster. I laugh at "financial planners" trying to sell me 4% returns - what do they know. The cautionary tale out of Zimbabwe haunts me still - of inflation running at 1000%, of a collapsing economy. Here's my blog entry dated 6 Jan 2004 :

... the banks have fallen victim to hyperinflation and flagrantly corrupt lending policies. Zimbabwe's real inflation rate exceeds 1,000 per cent yet the government has set interest rates at only 800 per cent, forcing most banks to lend at a loss. Zimbabwe's economy is among the fastest-shrinking in the world. Its collapse has assumed such proportions that unemployment has risen to more than 70 per cent and half the population survives on international food aid.

- Of course, I hope that we can avoid such a fate. I hope.

Post a Comment:

Comments are closed for this entry.

« Gulf states struggle... | Main | Venezuela may take... »

Most popular blog postings on lowem.log :

1. Singapore SIBOR interest rates fall to 1.5%, lowest since Dec 2004
2. Singapore SIBOR rate falls to 1.31%, lowest since Nov 2004
3. Live spot gold price quotes chart on COMEX
4. Fuel prices seen stoking Malaysia inflation in 2008
5. 2010 Honda Civic Hybrid preliminary specifications released
6. Singapore SIBOR rate fell to 1.25% in Apr 2008, lowest since Aug 2004
7. Malaysia inflation rate jumps to 7.7% in Jun 2008, a 26-year record high
8. Singapore : electricity tariffs to increase April 2008 on rising oil prices

Featured articles on lowem.log :

1. ABC Guide to Beating Inflation in Singapore and Elsewhere
2. Singapore inflation rate hits new 26-year high of 7.5% in Apr 2008
3. Singapore : Bread price inflation continues
4. 2010 Honda Civic Hybrid preliminary specifications released
5. Peakoiler buys 2008 Honda Civic Hybrid FD3
6. How to insert currency exchange rates into Google Spreadsheets
7. Singapore SIBOR rate falls to 0.94% in Nov 2008, lowest since Jul 2004
8. Singapore : Inflation erodes away bank savings