
Folks store at a grocery store in Seoul, Feb. 2. Yonhap
Korea’s shopper costs elevated greater than 2 % from a 12 months earlier final month on a weak native foreign money that pushed up import costs, information confirmed Wednesday.
Client costs, a key gauge of inflation, rose 2.2 % on-year in January, in response to the info from Statistics Korea. It marked the primary time in 5 months that costs elevated by greater than 2 %.
It is usually the most important on-year improve since July, when the determine rose 2.6 %.
Korea’s shopper inflation has remained beneath 3 % since April, and beneath the central financial institution’s 2 % goal since September, when it grew 1.6 % on-year.
The inflation charge dipped additional to 1.3 % in October earlier than barely rising to a 1.5 % improve the next month. The speed got here to 1.9 % in December.
In January, petroleum product costs surged by 7.3 % from a 12 months earlier, largely as a consequence of rising world oil costs and the weak Korean foreign money, which drove up import prices.
The general costs of agricultural, livestock and fisheries merchandise elevated 1.9 % on-year final month, in response to the company.
Vegetable costs, which had skilled double-digit development in earlier months, rose 4.4 % amid steady shipments of key objects.
Processed meals costs climbed 2.7 %, marking the best improve since January 2024, after they rose 3.2 %.
Core inflation, which excludes risky meals and power costs, added 1.9 %, the info confirmed.
Costs of each day requirements — 144 objects intently associated to folks’s on a regular basis lives, equivalent to meals, clothes and housing — went up 0.7 % final month, the info confirmed. (Yonhap)