CNA – Thailand’s headline consumer price index (CPI) declined for the first time in more than two years, thanks to falling energy prices due to government support measures and lower food prices, the Commerce Ministry said yesterday.
The headline CPI fell 0.31 per cent in October from a year earlier, the first drop since August 2021. That compared with a forecast 0.0 per cent in a poll, and versus a 0.3 per cent year on-year rise in the previous month.
The core CPI was up 0.66 per cent year-on-year in October.
Headline inflation has been below the central bank’s target of one per cent to three per cent for the sixth consecutive month.
In the January-October period, the headline CPI rose an average 1.6 per cent from the same period a year earlier, with the core CPI up 1.41 per cent.
The ministry still sees headline inflation at one per cent to 1.7 per cent this year.
In September, the Bank of Thailand’s monetary policy committee unexpectedly raised the key interest rate by a quarter point to 2.5 per cent, the highest in a decade, saying growth and inflation should pick up next year. It will next review policy on November 29.
