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BANGKOK: Thailand's consumer prices fell 3.3 per cent year-on-year in May, the fifth consecutive month of decline, the commerce ministry said.
Inflation hit a 10-year high in mid-2008 but has gradually declined and January saw the first contraction since October 1999, followed by falls in February, March and April.
"The contraction was due to a fall in fuel and transportation prices," said the ministry's deputy permanent secretary, Pimpapaan Chansilpa.
The core consumer price index, which strips out volatile energy and food costs, slipped 0.3 per cent from a year earlier, for the first time in 2009.
Inflation for the first five months of the year overall was down 1.1 per cent from 2008 while the core consumer price index was up 1.1 per cent from a year earlier, the ministry said.
The ministry kept its headline inflation target in a range of 0.0 to 0.5 per cent for 2009.
Pimpapaan said she expected inflation figures to rise in August, caused in part by a hike in oil prices.
The Bank of Thailand has slashed interest rates four times since December to try to spur the sluggish economy. The lending rate currently stands at 1.25 per cent.
- AFP/yt
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