SEOUL, South Korea’s consumer prices grew more than 2 percent for the third straight month in June on higher prices of farm and oil products, data showed Friday, indicating that inflationary pressure is building up in Asia’s fourth-largest economy amid an economic recovery.
The consumer price index rose 2.4 percent on-year in June, slowing from a 2.6 percent on-year gain the previous month, the fastest rise in more than nine years, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea.
The inflation pickup is due largely to last year’s low base and the tight supply of farm and livestock products, according to the statistics agency.
Compared with a month earlier, the index fell 0.1 percent last month, compared with a 0.1 percent on-month rise in May.
Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and oil prices, rose 1.2 percent on-year in June.
The country’s inflationary pressure remained subdued last year amid the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The central bank aims to keep annual inflation at 2 percent over the medium term.
But inflationary pressure is growing as the economic recovery accelerates following the pandemic-caused slumps.
The government said the growth of consumer prices is expected to temporarily surpass the Bank of Korea’s inflation target, but annual inflation will remain below 2 percent.
Source: Yonhap News Agency