Director-general Pimchanok Vonkorpon said that, with those items out of the calculation, inflation, as represented by the consumer price index, would have risen by only 0.58 per cent in February. 
Other factors were the global economic crisis, a slowdown in investments and concerns about the Covid-19 virus. 
“The 0.74 per cent figure is lower than we expected,” Pimchanok said. “Even though the rate of purchases declined, it did not affect product prices. Thailand is not facing shortages of any products and people don’t have to hoard what they need.” 
The Commerce Ministry expects the inflation rate this year to be in the range of 0.4-1.2 per cent, she said.

Price of food, soda drive up inflation

Inflation grew by 0.74 per cent last month, chiefly because of the higher prices of fresh and instant food and soda beverages, the Trade Policy and Strategy Office reported on Thursday (March 5).