Singapore Central Bank Raises Inflation

Singapore's central bank has raised its inflation forecast for this year because of higher expected housing and transportation costs. Monetary Authority of Singapore Managing Director Ravi Menon said in a speech Thursday that the bank expects an inflation rate between 4 percent and 5 percent, one percentage point higher than its previous forecast. Menon said the government's 2011 economic growth forecast between 5 percent and 7 percent remained unchanged. Menon said a stronger Singapore dollar has helped lessen the impact of higher global oil and food prices. Singapore's inflation rate fell to 4.5 percent in May from 5.5 percent in January. politics story In a story July 8 about a Singapore public opinion survey, The Associated Press erroneously quoted Member of Parliament Vikram Nair as saying he was less concerned with the 40 percent of the electorate who did not vote for his party in recent polls than the 60 percent who did. The correct quote is: "One of the things one of my friends reminded me was, you can change, but don't forget, don't change for the 40 percent, also the 60 percent who voted for you."

Maruti Stops Swift Production

India's largest carmaker Maruti has ended the production of its highly selling premium hatchback Swift, to make way for the next generation Swift, which will be launched in late August or early September. Dealers have started accepting bookings for the new Swift. Maruti has codenamed the new Swift as YP8 and its trial runs are on in the Manesar plant, reports Economic Times. According to a report in Business Standard, The car will come with 1.2-litre petrol and 1.3-litre diesel variants. It was reported that the new model, built on a slightly longer yet new platform, will be little extra roomy, lighter and return better mileage than the current generation Swift. Besides, engineers have also achieved a substantial reduction in the overall weight of the car by replacing the metal fuel tank with a plastic tank. This will improve its fuel efficiency by a little over 13 per cent. This will be the first major face-lift for the Swift since it was launched six years ago. Pricing details of the new car has not been shared by the company. It was also reported that the new Swift will be produced at the company's Manesar facility in Haryana, which has recently seen labour unrest. The petrol variant will return a mileage of around 20 km a litre, as compared to 17.9 km per litre certified by the Automotive Research Association of India. Similarly, the diesel model will deliver around 23.8 km per litre, as against the existing 21 km a litre. The report stated that for installing the plastic fuel tanks, Maruti Suzuki India has tied up with France's Plastic Omnium, the world's largest manufacturer of plastic fuel tanks as it was mentioned that plastic fuel tanks are usually 25-35 per cent lighter than the conventional metal tanks. Besides, these are corrosion-free, durable, non-explosive and easily recyclable. Maruti Suzuki India has entered into a tripartite joint venture with Suzuki Motor Corporation and Plastic Omnium to manufacture fuel tanks at the Manesar facility. The new plastic tank manufacturing facility, Inergy Automotive Systems Manufacturing India Private Ltd, was inaugurated in Manesar on Monday.