(MENAFN- Trend News Agency)
South Korea's consumer prices rose at the fastest clip in nearly
24 years in June due mainly to soaring energy costs, data showed
Tuesday, fanning expectations of a sharp rate hike this month,
Trend reports
citing Yonhap .
Consumer prices soared 6 percent last month from a year earlier,
accelerating from a 5.4 percent on-year spike in May, according to
the data from Statistics Korea.
It marked the sharpest inflation rate since a 6.8 percent jump
in November 1998, when South Korea was in the midst of the 1997-98
Asian financial crisis.
Consumer prices rose above 2 percent -- the central bank's
inflation target over the medium term -- for the 15th straight
month in June.
South Korea faces growing inflationary pressure, as crude oil
and other commodity prices rose due to the protracted war between
Russia and Ukraine, and global supply disruptions. Demand-pull
inflation has also increased amid the economic recovery.
The statistics agency said inflation is expected to stay at the
6 percent range for the time being.
'If the current trend continues, annual inflation could exceed
the 4.7 percent forecast (by the finance ministry),' Eo Woon-sun, a
senior Statistics Korea official, told reporters.
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