Thai consumer prices fall on govt measures

- Advertisement -

BANGKOK- Thailand’s annual headline consumer price index (CPI) in October declined for the first time in more than two years, thanks to falling energy and goods prices due to government support measures, the commerce ministry said on Monday.

The headline CPI fell 0.31 percent  in October from a year earlier, the first annual drop since August 2021. That compared with a forecast 0.0 percent  in a Reuters poll, and versus a 0.3 percent  year-on-year rise in the previous month.

It was the sixth successive monthly headline inflation indicator that was below the central bank’s target range of 1 percent  to 3 percent .

- Advertisement -

The headline CPI in November could fall slightly from a year earlier due to government measures to reduce the cost of living, and a high comparative base in 2022, Poonpong Naiyanapakorn, head of the ministry’s trade policy and strategy office, told a news conference.

Falling consumer prices, however, should not lead to deflation as the economy is still growing, he said, adding the ministry still forecast headline inflation at 1.0 percent  to 1.7 percent  in 2023.

In October, the core CPI was up 0.66 percent  year-on-year, compared with a forecast 0.59 percent  rise in the poll, and against September’s 0.63 percent  increase. In the January-October period, the headline CPI rose an average 1.60 percent  year-on-year, with the core CPI up 1.41 percent.

 

Author

- Advertisement -

Share post: