Standard Chartered opens upgraded foreign exchange

As oil imports and transportation account for 13 percent of the local consumer price index, Phoo said the nation's inflation rate will climb to between 2 and 2.5 percent in the first half of next year, with an expected decline to an average at 1.7 percent next year.

Standard Chartered also revised its economic growth forecast for the nation next year from 4.5 percent to 4.7 percent.