Dawn Cher

Abacus | Save money with house brands, side gigs, budget apps as inflation hits China to Singapore and India

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine pushed the prices of fuel and commodities higher, adding more stress to pandemic-affected supply chain networks across Asia

Using a budget app, buying second-hand and learning to invest will ease your inflation woes, blogger Dawn Cher says in a new column on personal finance

Reading Time:5 minutes

Why you can trust SCMP

Dawn Cher

Published: 11:30am, 1 May 2022

With food and energy prices soaring in Asia, what can households and consumers do to deal with inflation?

Whether it be higher grocery bills, utilities or petrol costs, most of us have been forking out extra in recent months.

Across the region – from China to Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Singapore and South Korea – inflation readings have spiked. Even the cost of household staples such as bread, eggs and meat have risen.

Consumer price hikes are becoming increasingly common, thanks to global supply chain disruptions, border lockdowns and the tapering of government subsidies, as the world tries to live in a post-pandemic state. And should China continue to impose lockdowns in a bid to suppress Covid-19 outbreaks, the pressure on supply chain and logistics is likely to continue.

The final nail in the coffin was Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which pushed the prices of fuel and commodities even higher. The Asian Development Bank said earlier this month that elevated commodities prices are exacerbating inflation in developing Asia by 1 percentage point to 3.7 per cent this year.