SINGAPORE, March 23 — Singapore’s consumer prices fell for a 16th straight month, extending the longest streak of declines since 1977 amid a global oil-price slump.

Consumer prices declined 0.8 per cent from a year earlier in February as transport, housing and communication costs fell further, data released in Singapore today showed. The median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey was for a 0.7 per cent fall. Core inflation, which excludes private transport and accommodation costs, accelerated to 0.5 per cent last month.

“The low oil prices will continue to weigh on the headline number, resulting in negative inflation,” DBS Group Holdings Ltd said in a research note before the data release. “Beyond that, the cooling housing market is exerting downward pressure on rentals.”

The economic growth slowdown has further compounded the disinflationary pressure, DBS said. “This will likely become more pronounced in the coming months withoverhanging risk of a technical recession.”

Authorities last month lowered Singapore’s inflation forecast for 2016 to -1.0 per cent to 0 per cent, from a previous range of -0.5 per cent to 0.5 per cent. The forecast for the MAS core inflation measure was kept at 0.5 per cent to 1.5 per cent.

“External sources of inflation are likely to remain muted given ample supply buffers in the major commodity markets and weak global demand conditions,” the central bank and trade ministry said in a statement accompanying the inflation report. “The pass-through of wage costs to consumer prices may also be tempered by the subdued economicgrowth environment.” — Bloomberg