S Korea's consumer prices hit 29-month high in March
Post Date: 02 Apr 2011 Viewed: 558
South Korea's consumer prices hit a 29-month high in March mainly due to higher food and oil-related costs, a government report showed Friday.
The country's consumer price index (CPI) jumped 4.7 percent in March from a year earlier, after gaining 4.5 percent in February, Statistics Korea said in a monthly report.
The March reading breached the central bank's 4 percent ceiling for the third consecutive month and stayed much higher than the government's inflation target of 3 percent. It posted the fastest on-year hike since October 2008 when it climbed 4.8 percent.
From a month earlier, consumer prices rose 0.5 percent, keeping its on-month hike for the fourth straight month, according to the report.
Core CPI, which excludes oil and agricultural products, added 3.3 percent in March from a year earlier, following 3.1 percent rise the previous month, the report showed.
"The gain in consumer prices in March was mainly driven by still high prices of agricultural, livestock and fishery products along with rising oil prices," the finance ministry said in a separate statement.
Prices for agricultural, dairy and fisheries goods surged 14.9 percent in March from a year before, the report showed. Gasoline, diesel and kerosene jumped 13.8 percent, 18.9 percent and 24.9 percent on-year in March respectively.
The fresh food price index, a gauge of vegetables and fruits, soared 19 percent last month from a year earlier, keeping its double-digit uptrend for the 10th consecutive month.
The inflation reading came amid the South Korean government's efforts to ease inflationary pressures by decreasing import taxes on some items, unloading stockpiles of agricultural products and cracking down on price-rigging in the corporate sector.
Rising prices in oil and agricultural products led the latest consumer inflation amid concerns over higher oil prices stemming from the prolonged political unrest in the Middle East.
"Consumer price rises will likely slow down steadily from April amid normalized supply of agricultural products and eased foot-and- mouth disease," the finance ministry said.
The ministry, however, noted higher oil prices will likely continue for an extended period of time due to lingering uncertainties such as the drawn-out unrest in the Middle East.