South Korea’s consumer inflation softened to a three-month low in July, coming in below market expectations on a fall in oil prices. The consumer price index (CPI) rose 2.8% in July from a year earlier, after rising 3.2% in June.
Over the month, the index fell for the first time in eight months, down 0.2%, as prices of petroleum products dropped 5.5%. Economists had expected a rise of 0.1%, the same pace as in the previous month.
Vice Finance Minister Lee Hyoung-il noted that upward price pressures, including uncertainty over the Middle East war, persist. The finance ministry estimated that nationwide fuel price caps reduced inflation last month by 0.3 percentage points.
Original reporting: Appleton, WI News Feed (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
