S. Korea inflation surges to 5.3%

South Korea's inflation rate hit a three-year high of 5.3 percent in August despite government efforts to curb rising prices, official figures showed Thursday.

 

The figure released by Statistics Korea was the highest since a 5.6 percent year-on-year increase in August 2008. It compares to a 4.8 percent rise tipped by a Dow Jones Newswires poll and a 4.7 percent increase in July.

  

Seoul skyline

 

The figure for the consumer price index (CPI) marked the eighth consecutive month that inflation has breached the central bank's target range for this year of 2-4 percent.

 

Month-on-month the CPI rose 0.9 percent in August compared with a 0.7 percent increase in July.

 

Core inflation, which excludes volatile energy and agricultural prices, rose by 4.0 percent in August from a year earlier and 0.3 percent from the previous month.

 

The year-on-year rise in core CPI was the fastest since 4.1 percent in August 2009.

 

The finance ministry, which has made the fight against inflation its top priority, expects the rate to decline to the 3 percent range from this month.

 

But higher food prices due to heavy summer rain and rising global energy and commodities prices have hampered its efforts.

 

- AFP/cc