BANGKOK (XINHUA) – Thailand’s headline inflation inched up in August as energy prices rose despite stable food prices, official data showed yesterday.
The consumer price index (CPI), a key indicator of inflation, rose 0.88 per cent year on year last month, slightly up from a 0.38 per cent increase in July, according to the Ministry of Commerce.
The August inflation growth was below the Bank of Thailand’s (BOT) target range of one to three percent for the fourth month.
The core CPI, which excludes raw food and energy prices, slowed for the eighth consecutive month, reaching a 19-month low of 0.79 per cent year on year in August, edging down from 0.86 per cent a month earlier because of softening production costs.
In September, headline CPI is expected to pick up slightly owing to elevated energy prices, higher food prices on the back of droughts, and government stimulus measures, which can increase domestic spending, said director general of the ministry’s Trade Policy and Strategy Office Poonpong Naiyanapakorn.
However, economic slowdown among the Southeast Asian country’s trading partners, the BOT’s tightening monetary policy, and a high price base in September 2022 will moderate the inflation growth, Poonpong told a news conference.
He noted that the ministry expects headline inflation growth to range between one per cent and two per cent this year and will review the projection next month.
