(MENAFN- Qatar News Agency) Oul june 03 (qna) - south korea's consumer prices grew at the fastest pace in 19 months in may maintaining their upward trend after a protracted slow price gain that prompted concerns over deflation a government report showed tuesday.
the country's consumer price index rose 1.7 percent last month from a year earlier the fastest on-year rise since october 2012 when it advanced 2.1 percent according to the report by statistics korea.
the core inflation which excludes volatile oil and food prices rose 2.2 percent on-year down from april when it went up 2.3 percent south korea's news (yonhap) reported.
the report showed that utility services such as electricity tap water and gas jumped 4.2 percent on-year in may while the prices of products manufactured in factories including oil-related goods rose 2.2 percent.
the data come amid worries that the country might be entering a deflation phase as consumer price growth remained at around 1 percent until february. it fell to as low as 0.9 percent in october.
home rental services rose 2.4 percent with public service prices gaining 0.7 percent over the same period.
prices of agricultural livestock and fisheries products however dropped 2 percent in may from a year earlier. those of fresh foods in particular fell 9.2 percent.
weak domestic demand resulted in slower price growth for foods and other personal services. the report showed that prices of foods and lodging services gained a mere 1.3 percent.
the statistics agency said that the prices in the sectors could slow down further in the coming months. (qna)
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