S. Korea Inflation in May at 14-Year-Low
South Korea's inflation touched a 14-year low in May on falling fuel costs and stabilizing food prices, government data showed Monday.
The consumer price index for May rose 1.0 percent from a year ago -- the slowest rate since September 1999 -- state-run Statistics Korea said. It marked the seven straight month that inflation has stayed under 2.0 percent.
On-year inflation in April had stood at 1.2 percent.
The figure was comfortably below the central bank's target range of 2.5 to 3.5 percent, leaving room for further monetary easing to spur growth after a key interest rate cut in May.
Core inflation, which excludes volatile oil and food prices, gained 1.6 percent from a year earlier and 0.4 percent from April.
Prices of fuel such as gasoline and diesel fell 2.6 percent from the same month in 2012 and 1.3 percent from the previous month.
Prices of key food items including meat and vegetables posted a 0.5-percent rise from May a year ago and fell 0.8 percent from April.
In a Dow Jones poll, all nine surveyed analysts expect the Bank of Korea to keep interest rates unchanged in June, with six expecting the rate to be frozen throughout 2013.
Source: Agence France Presse
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