SEJONG -- South Korea's consumer prices increased more than 1 percent in April on a rise in prices of agricultural and industrial goods, government data showed Wednesday.
The country's consumer price index climbed 1.6 percent last month from a year earlier, accelerating from the previous month's 1.3 percent on-year gain, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea.
The April figure is well below the Bank of Korea's target of 2 percent for the year, stoking speculation that the central bank's monetary tightening will be pushed forward at a gradual pace in the coming months.
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(Yonhap) |
But the on-year gain in April is the largest since October, 2017, when the comparable figure was 1.8 percent.
From a month earlier, the index rose 0.1 percent in April.
Core inflation, which excludes volatile oil and food prices, grew 1.4 percent in April compared to the previous year.
Prices of agricultural goods rose 4.1 percent on-year last month, compared with a 2.1 percent on-year gain tallied for March. Industrial goods prices increased 1.4 percent from the year before, compared with a 0.9 percent on-year rise reported for the previous month, the agency said.
The statistical office said service charges advanced 1.6 percent last month, compared to a 1.7 percent on-year increase in March. (Yonhap)
