BANGKOK- Thailand’s annual headline inflation rate quickened in October due to higher energy and food prices, the commerce ministry said on Wednesday, but still remained below the central bank’s target range of 1 percent to 3 percent.
The headline consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.83 percent in October from a year earlier, the commerce ministry said. That was below a forecast rise of 0.94 percent in a Reuters poll, and followed September’s annual increase of 0.61 percent.
The core CPI which excludes volatile food and energy prices, increased 0.77 percent in October from a year earlier, in line with a forecast rise of 0.79 percent in the poll.
For the January-October period, average annual headline inflation was 0.26 percent, with core inflation at 0.52 percent.
The commerce ministry maintained its full-year inflation forecast of 0.2 percent to 0.8 percent, and Poonpong Naiyanapakorn, director of the ministry’s trade policy and strategy office, told reporters the 2024 figure would likely come in under 0.5 percent.
Inflation is seen higher than 1 percent in November and December, and so was expected to be about 1.12 percent in the final quarter of 2024, Poonpong told a press conference.
