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| ▲ Customers line up to buy napa cabbages at a major discount chain store in Seoul on Sept. 29, 2024. (Yonhap) |
consumer prices-tally
Consumer inflation slows to 3 1/2-year low of 1.6 pct in Sept.
By Oh Seok-min
SEOUL, Oct. 2 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's consumer prices slowed to the lowest level in 3 1/2 years in September, falling below 2 percent for the first time since early 2021, data showed Wednesday.
Consumer prices, a key gauge of inflation, rose 1.6 percent on-year last month, compared with a 2 percent on-year increase a month earlier, according to the data from Statistics Korea.
September's figure marked the lowest level since February 2021, when consumer prices grew 1.4 percent.
The figure last came to the 1 percent range in March 2021 by logging 1.9 percent.
The government has said that the country is projected to reach the target rate of 2 percent by around the end of 2024, and it saw consumer inflation stay below 3 percent for the sixth consecutive month through September.
The finance ministry expects this year's prices to rise 2.6 percent.
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