South Korea's consumer price growth hit a record low in August, remaining flat compared with a year earlier, due mainly to declines in prices of agricultural and petroleum products, government data showed Tuesday.
South Korea's consumer prices remained unchanged in August from a year earlier, staying below the 1 percent threshold for the eighth consecutive month, according to the data from Statistics Korea.
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(Yonhap) |
The reading marked the lowest since 1965, when the statistics agency started compiling data on consumer prices.
Lee Doo-won, director at the agency's price statistics division, said the record low consumer prices are blamed on a base effect in prices of agricultural and petroleum products from a year earlier.
From a month earlier, the consumer price index rose 0.2 percent.
Core inflation -- which excludes agricultural and petroleum products -- rose 0.9 percent from a year earlier.
Prices of petroleum products fell 6.6 percent in August from a year earlier, while prices of agricultural products declined 11.4 percent, according to the data.
Utility prices rose 2.3 percent on-year last month, while prices of service charges increased 1 percent. (Yonhap)
