South Korea's finance minister said Wednesday that recent heavy rains in the country are not expected to give an immediate impact on consumer prices.
"There are some risk factors for this month's consumer prices, but as there are also downward factors, we do not believe that (the heavy rains) will have immediate adverse impacts on the prices," Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho said after visiting a chicken farm in Gongju, 119 kilometers south of Seoul.
The finance minister, however, said it is possible that the latest damage at local farms will affect consumer prices in August.
In separate data released by the agricultural ministry, the series of heavy rains observed since last week damaged 33,005 hectares of crops while killing 797,000 units of livestock, including 738,800 chickens as of Wednesday morning.
"There are always heat waves or heavy rains around July and August, so these factors are not likely to affect the overall trend in consumer prices," Choo said, noting that the on-year growth in prices is expected to remain at around 2.5 percent after September.
South Korea's on-year consumer price growth slowed for the fifth straight month in June, falling below 3 percent for the first time in 21 months by rising 2.7 percent.
The finance ministry earlier hinted that there could be some ups and downs depending on the supply of agricultural products amid typhoons or heat waves.
Earlier this month, South Korea suggested slower-than-expected inflation of 3.3 percent for 2023, compared to the previous estimate of 3.5 percent.
Choo also reiterated the country has no plan to seek an additional budget to handle the damage resulting from the recent heavy rains, noting the government is fully equipped to address the issue.
Source: Yonhap News Agency