XINHUA – Thailand’s headline inflation rose for the second straight month in May, marking the highest rate in 13 months, due to rising energy prices and higher prices of agricultural products stemming from the extremely hot weather, official data showed yesterday, reported Xinhua.
The consumer price index (CPI) jumped 1.54 per cent last month from a year earlier, accelerating from a 0.19 per cent increase in April, according to Thailand’s Ministry of Commerce.
The May inflation returned to within the Bank of Thailand’s target range of one to three per cent for the first time since April 2023.
The core CPI, which excludes raw food and energy prices, rose 0.39 per cent year on year in May, edging up from a 0.37 per cent gain in the previous month.
For the first five months of 2024, the headline CPI declined by 0.13 per cent compared to the same period last year, said Director General of the ministry’s Trade Policy and Strategy Office Poonpong Naiyanapakorn.
Headline inflation is expected to pick up at a slower rate in June owing to the government’s measures to reduce electricity prices, along with softening prices of agricultural products thanks to the start of the rainy season, Poonpong told a news conference.
