S. Korea's inflation slows to 2.8 pct in January

▲ A customer shops at a major discount chain store in Seoul on Feb. 1, 2024. (Yonhap)

consumer prices-tally

S. Korea's inflation slows to 2.8 pct in January

By Oh Seok-min

SEOUL, Feb. 2 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's inflation fell below 3 percent for the first time in six months in January, data showed Friday.

Consumer prices, a key gauge of inflation, rose 2.8 percent on-year last month, compared with a 3.2 percent increase a month earlier, according to the data from Statistics Korea.

It is the first time that the figure fell below the 3 percent level since July last year when the prices gained 2.4 percent.

Inflation then rose to 3.4 percent in August and further to 3.7 and 3.8 percent the following months before coming to 3.3 percent in November on high prices of energy and farm produce.

The price growth slowed down for the third month in a row in January in a sign that inflationary pressure is easing.

Last year, consumer prices advanced 3.6 percent on-year, slowing from a 5.1 percent gain in 2022. Excluding the 2022 figure, last year reported the steepest price growth since 2011.

The government has said that inflationary pressure is forecast to ease at a slower pace than earlier expected before reaching its target rate of 2 percent by around the end of 2024.

The finance ministry expected this year's prices to grow 2.6 percent.

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