The base effect of telecommunication costs disappeared, but all products and services rose, the highest growth rate of the year
National Statistical Office “There is little chance of a slowdown in oil price growth, and personal services are likely to continue to rise”
Consumer price inflation rose higher than last month in November, hitting the highest level in nearly a decade.
Most of the base effect of telecommunication costs, which led the inflation in October, disappeared, but industrial products such as agricultural, livestock and fishery products and petroleum products, and services such as rent and food service rose all at once.
The National Statistical Office announced on the 2nd that the consumer price index for November was 109.41 (2015 = 100), up 3.7% from the same month last year.
This is the highest level since December 2011 (4.2%) and the highest this year.
It is the first time since January (3.3%) and February (3.0%) in 2012 that the inflation rate recorded 3% for two months in a row.
The latest consumer price inflation rate is April (2.3%), May (2.6%), June (2.4%), July (2.6%), August (2.6%), September (2.5%), etc. After recording 2% in a row, it jumped to 3.2% in October and further increased in November.
Of the 3.7% inflation rate in November, 2.9 percentage points (p) were contributed by petroleum products (1.32%p), personal services (0.96%p), and livestock and fishery products (0.64%p).
This means that service prices such as oil prices and eating out costs, as well as increases in agricultural and fishery products prices, led the price increase in November.
Petroleum rose 35.5%, the highest since July 2008 (35.5%).
Gasoline (33.4%), diesel (39.7%), automotive LPG (38.1%) and kerosene (31.1%) all rose.
Although the government lowered the fuel tax by 20% from the 12th of last month, the effect of lowering the inflation rate was limited as it took time for the cut to be reflected in the actual price.
Processed foods, including bread (6.1%), also rose 3.5% in the aftermath of rising milk prices.
As both petroleum and processed foods rose, industrial products rose 5.5%, the highest increase since November 2011 (6.4%).
Electricity, water and gas rose 1.1%.
As consumption increased due to the implementation of a gradual recovery of daily life (with Corona), service prices also rose significantly.
Dining out services such as sashimi (9.6%) rose 3.9%, and services other than eating out, such as insurance service fees (9.6%) rose 2.3%, up 3.0%.
The increase in personal service is the largest since January 2012 (3.1%).
Rent also rose 1.9%.
Jeonse rose 2.7%, the largest increase since October 2017 (2.7%), and monthly rent rose 1.0%, recording the 1% level for the first time since June 2014 (1.0%).
Public services, which recorded an increase of 5.4% in October, narrowed the increase to 0.6% in November.
This is because most of the base effect of last year’s telecommunication cost support has disappeared.
Agricultural and fishery products, which seemed to be on the decline, also recorded an increase of 7.6% in November due to poor crop yields due to a sharp drop in temperature.
The increase rate of agricultural, livestock and fishery products decreased from 7.8% in August to 3.7% in September and 0.2% in October, but then expanded again this time.
Cucumbers (99.0%) and lettuce (72.0%) soared, while eggs (32.7%), imported beef (24.6%), pork (14.0%), and domestic beef (9.2%) also rose in price.
The core price index (excluding agricultural products and petroleum products), which shows the key price trend, rose 2.3%.
The cost of living, which accounts for the perceived cost of living, rose 5.2%.
This is the highest increase since August 2011 (5.2%).
Eo Woon-seon, director of economic trend statistics at Statistics Korea, said, “Given the trend of international oil prices or grain and raw material prices, it is unlikely that the rise in industrial product prices such as petroleum will slow down. “It is highly likely that the inflation rate in December will continue to rise significantly,” he said.
/yunhap news
