BANGKOK : Thailand’s headline inflation reached its highest in 13 months in May and returned to the central bank’s target range of 1 per cent to 3 per cent for the first time in a year, commerce ministry data showed on Friday.
The headline consumer price index (CPI) rose in May for a second straight month, up 1.54 per cent from a year earlier, after the previous month’s annual rise of 0.19 per cent, the commerce ministry said.
The rise, which outstripped a forecast increase of 1.19 per cent in a Reuters poll, was the first time since April 2023 that the headline rate returned to the central bank’s target range.
May inflation should ease pressure on the central bank to cut borrowing costs, sought by the government, when it next reviews monetary policy on Wednesday.
Most economists expect the key rate to remain steady at a more than decade high of 2.50 per cent next week.
The May price rise reflected a temporary low base for electricity due to subsidies, and higher prices of energy and food prices, the ministry said.
The ministry retained its headline inflation forecast for the year of between 0.0 per cent to 1.0 per cent. It said CPI would probably rise more slowly in June.
“Next month we expect about 1 per cent to 1.1 per cent, less than in May,” Poonpong Naiyanapakorn, director of the trade policy and strategy office, told a press conference.
The inflation rate is expected to stay positive for the rest of the year and should not exceed 1 per cent in 2024, he added.
The core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose 0.39 per cent year-on-year in May.
In the first five months of 2024, average headline CPI dropped 0.13 per cent from a year earlier, with the core rate up 0.42 per cent.
From: channelnewsasia
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