Consecutive <1% Inflation
Korea recorded a year-on-year consumer price increase of 0.8 percent last month, as in December last year. The month-on-month increase was 0.5 percent.
The year-on-year inflation rate had dropped below 1.0 percent in October 2013 to reach 0.9 percent, and remained over 1.0 percent in the following 13 months.
In the meantime, the LG Economic Research Institute said on the same day that 27 out of 33 advanced economies were in deflation or disinflation, that is, an inflation rate of less than 1.0 percent as of the end of last year. “Korea is not free from the rising deflation risk attributable to low oil prices, slow economic growth, and lowered expectations as of late,” the institute added.
At the end of 2014, Korea’s inflation rate dropped by 3.2 percentage points compared to that at the end of 2011, which significantly exceeded the global average. Besides, its three-year-average economic growth rate stands at 2.8 percent.