South Korea inflation quickens on one-off factor, misses expectations
SEOUL, Sept 2 : South Korea's consumer inflation quickened in August due to low-base effects from the previous comparable period a year ago, data showed on Wednesday, but was lower than expectations.
The consumer price index (CPI) rose 3.1 per cent in August from a year earlier, after climbing 2.8 per cent in July, according to the Ministry of Data and Statistics. That compared with a median forecast for a 3.2 per cent increase in a Reuters poll of economists.
Prices of public services rose 6.5 per cent, driven by a one-off factor of 26.7 per cent jump in mobile service fees due to temporary price discounts in August last year. Petroleum prices were up 14.2 per cent, after rising 15.5 per cent in July.
Without the one-off effect of mobile service fees, inflation would have been weaker at 2.5 per cent, the finance ministry said after the data release, adding that nationwide fuel price caps lowered inflation by 0.3 per centage points last month.
The ministry also said it was expecting inflation to ease this month, while the central bank warned that the upward trend in underlying price pressure in core products would persist.
Last week, the Bank of Korea delivered a second straight increase in interest rates as inflation has been holding above target and financial stability risks persist.
CPI rose 0.2 per cent on a monthly basis, after falling 0.2 per cent in the previous month. Economists had expected a 0.3 per cent rise.
Core CPI, stripping out volatile food and energy prices, was up 3.4 per cent in August from a year earlier, after rising 2.6 per cent in July. It was the fastest year-on-year increase since May 2023.
