South Korea’s inflation in May cools to lowest in 19 months

[Photo by Yonhap]

South Korea’s inflation eased for the fourth consecutive month last month, dropping to the low 3 percent range thanks to the continued downward trend in petroleum prices, which has alleviated overall inflationary pressures.

According to consumer price trend data for May from Statistics Korea on Friday, the consumer price index for the previous month stood at 111.13, marking a 3.3 percent rise compared with the same period a year ago. This is the lowest figure in 19 months since October 2021 when the increase was 3.2 percent.

The inflation has gradually slowed, starting from a modest rise in December last year at 5 percent, reaching 5.2 percent in January this year and subsequently falling to 4.8 percent in February, 4.2 percent in March, and 3.7 percent in April.

Once again, petroleum products played a significant role in influencing prices last month. Petroleum prices dropped by 18 percent from a year earlier, marking the largest decline in three years since May 2020.

Furthermore, agricultural, livestock and fishery products contributed to lowering the inflation rate by 0.03 percentage points compared to the same period last year.

In contrast, prices for electricity, gas and water jumped by 23.2 percent. This surge, coupled with electricity bill increases, resulted in a two-month consecutive surge in the 20 percent range following a 23.7 percent hike in April.

Dining out prices also saw a relatively significant increase by 6.9 percent, which contributed to pushing the inflation rate up by 0.90 percentage points.