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© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Workplace employees decide up lunch containers at a comfort retailer in Seoul, South Korea, June 24, 2022. Image taken June 24, 2022. REUTERS/ Heo Ran
By Jihoon Lee
SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s client costs for February grew at their slowest tempo in 10 months, bolstering views that the central financial institution is completed with its present coverage tightening cycle after it held charges regular final month.
The buyer value index rose 4.8% in February from a yr earlier than, Statistics Korea knowledge confirmed on Monday, easing from January’s 5.2%. It was decrease than 5.1% tipped in a Reuters ballot, and was additionally the bottom fee since April 2022.
By product class, costs of livestock merchandise fell 3.2% from the earlier month and petroleum merchandise slid 1.3%, dragging the inflation fee decrease.
The inflation index rose 0.3% on a month-to-month foundation, in contrast with 0.8% within the earlier month and 0.5% anticipated by economists.
“It was encouraging that the rising tempo of personal service costs slowed, decreasing the opportunity of extra fee hikes by the central financial institution, a minimum of on the home facet,” mentioned Ahn Jae-kyun, a fixed-income analyst at Shinhan Securities.
Annual core inflation, which excludes unstable meals and vitality costs, inched all the way down to 4.0%, from 4.1% a month earlier than, and hit the bottom since August, suggesting easing underlying value stress.
The Financial institution of Korea mentioned in an announcement after the CPI launch that the February knowledge got here in as anticipated and that the inflation fee would fall considerably in March on excessive base results.
The BOK held rates of interest regular final month, after a yr of uninterrupted hikes, and mentioned the financial tightening marketing campaign wouldn’t resume if inflation adopted an anticipated path in direction of moderation.
Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho individually mentioned that the inflation slowdown would turn out to be clearer going ahead, until there have been an exterior shock.
The South Korean three-year treasury bond futures rose as a lot as 0.24 factors to 103.49 through the morning session, additionally helped by a fall in U.S. Treasury yields over the weekend.
(This story has been refiled to right typographical error in paragraph 2)
