South Korea’s consumer price growth slows
May 1st, 2012 - 3:12 pm ICT by IANSSeoul, May 1 (IANS) South Korea’s consumer price growth slowed to 2.5 percent in April, a report showed Tuesday.
Consumer prices advanced 2.5 percent in April from a year earlier, down from a 2.6 percent on-year gain in the previous month, according to Statistics Korea. From a month before, the prices were unchanged.
The April figure was the lowest in 21 months and marked the two straight months that the headline inflation stayed at the 2 percent range. The consumer price inflation remained below the upper ceiling of the Bank of Korea (BOK)’s inflation target band of 2-4 percent in April for four straight months, reported Xinhua.
Despite high energy prices, a fall in price service charges contributed to slower consumer price growth, according to the report.
Service sector prices rose 1.3 percent in April from a year before. Public service prices gained 0.6 percent on-year in April, with private service charges advancing 0.7 percent over the same period.
Prices for using childcare facilities plunged 34.1 percent on-year in April, and prices for school meal tumbled 19.3 percent as the government widened its free school meal programme. Pre-school tuitions dropped 11.1 percent over the same period, and telecommunication fees retreated 6.4 percent as domestic wireless carriers lowered their service charges in a bid to meet the government’s efforts to tame inflation.
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Tags: 21 months, bok, childcare facilities, consumer price inflation, energy prices, headline inflation, high energy, inflation target, may 1, pre school, private service, seoul, service charges, service sector, south korea, tame inflation, telecommunication, tuitions, wireless carriers, xinhua