Korea: Inflation rises in October
Inflation ticked up to 5.7% in October, following Septembers 5.6%. The reading was driven by higher price pressures for housing and utilities. Electricity and gas prices soared 23.0% in October after the government decided to hike prices in late September.
The trend pointed up slightly, with annual average inflation coming in at 4.9% in October (September: 4.7%). Meanwhile, core inflation ticked up to 4.2% in October, from the previous month’s 4.1%.
Lastly, consumer prices rose 0.26% in October over the previous month, which was below September’s 0.29% increase.
Analysts at Nomura commented on the outlook:
“Inflation peaked in July, in line with our expectations […]. That said, we expect headline inflation to remain above 5% until year-end and then slow to an average of 3.8% y-o-y in Q1 2023, led by slowing consumption and the continued fall in energy prices. We maintain our inflation forecasts of 5.1% for 2022 and 2.0% for 2023.”