Headline inflation up 0.87% in December
The consumer price index (CPI), commonly referred to as headline inflation, stood at 102.62 as December drew to a close, a 0.87-per-cent increase from the same month last year, the Commerce Ministry reported on Thursday (January 2).
“The CPI rose for the five consecutive months since its last slowdown in August,” said Pimchanok Vonkorpon, director-general of the ministry’s Trade Policy and Strategy Office.
“The key factor in the December rise was a hike in fresh food prices and a minimal decrease in energy prices – the least in the eight months.”
With the prices of fresh food and energy excluded from the calculation, core inflation expanded by 0.49 per cent, she said.
The average increase in core inflation for all of 2019 was 0.52 per cent and in headline inflation 0.71 per cent.
“These numbers are still within the ministry’s expectation of 0.7-1 per cent,” Pimchanok said. “The office estimates inflation rate for 2020 to be in the range of 0.4-1.2 per cent, for an average of 0.8 per cent.”
