SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s finance minister reaffirmed on Friday his view that consumer prices would ease around the April-May months, a week after data showed the country’s annual inflation had unexpectedly ticked up in January.
“The inflation data will get better to a level we need to worry about less than at present,” Minister Choo Kyung-ho said at a forum hosted by senior domestic media editors, while giving no specific forecast.
South Korea’s consumer price index rose 5.2% in January from a year before, picking up speed from a 5.0% gain in December 2022 and above market expectations for 5.0% growth.
Choo said he has been meeting frequently with the head of the central bank to exchange views on current issues, but declined to comment on interest rates, noting that monetary policy was the preserve of the Bank of Korea.
He said an anticipated pick-up in China’s economic growth after its shift away from COVID-related restrictions would be positive for South Korea’s economy, although the country needs to continue efforts to diversify export markets.
(Reporting by Younah Moon; Writing by Choonsik Yoo; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)
