SINGAPORE — Singapore’s main price gauge slipped into deflation for the first time in over a decade in February, data showed on Monday, as the coronavirus pandemic drove declines in airfares and holiday expenses.

Singapore’s headline consumer price index rose 0.3 percent from a year earlier, slightly below poll expectations of 0.35 percent

Economists polled by Reuters had been expecting a 0.1 percent year- on-year rise in core inflation - the central bank’s favored price measure.

But the downturn in prices in the services sector due to the outbreak led to a fall of 0.1 percent from a year earlier - the first deflationary print since January 2010.

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Singapore’s headline consumer price index rose 0.3 percent from a year earlier, slightly below poll expectations of 0.35 percent.

On a month-on-month basis, headline inflation rose 0.1 percent, while core prices were down 0.1 percent.

Inflationary pressures are expected to remain subdued in the near term, Singapore’s trade ministry and central bank said in a joint statement, citing sharp falls in oil prices, weak labor market conditions and the coronavirus-driven global economic slowdown.

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The city-state - which has banned entry to travelers to try to limit imported virus cases which have risen sharply in recent days - said similar containment measures abroad could lead to upward price pressures on imported food.