Inflation in Korea
The Republic of Korea maintained moderate inflation rates from 2013 to 2022, averaging around 2%. Inflation was notably below this threshold in the years before the COVID-19 pandemic, and surged in 2021 and 2022 on economic recovery, supply constraints and high commodity prices. That said, inflation in 2022 was below the OECD average.
Consumer price inflation in Korea averaged 1.6% in the ten years to 2022, below the Asia-Pacific regional average of 2.1%. The 2022 average figure was 5.1%. For more inflation information, visit our dedicated page.
Korea Inflation Chart
Note: This chart displays Inflation Rate (CPI, annual variation in %) for Korea from 2013 to 2022.
Source: KOSTAT.
Korea Inflation Data
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inflation (CPI, ann. var. %, aop) | 1.5 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 2.5 | 5.1 |
| Inflation (CPI, ann. var. %, eop) | 1.3 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 3.7 | 5.0 |
| Inflation (Core, ann. var. %, aop) | 1.2 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 1.4 | 3.6 |
| Inflation (PPI, ann. var. %, aop) | 1.9 | 0.0 | -0.5 | 6.4 | 8.4 |
Inflation comes in at highest level since March in October
Inflation inched up to 3.8% in October, slightly above September’s 3.7%. October's reading was the highest inflation rate since March and was above the Central Bank’s expectations. The acceleration was driven by a sharper rise in food and transport prices. Annual average inflation edged down to 3.9% in October (September: 4.1%). Meanwhile, core inflation fell to 3.2% in October, from September’s 3.3%. Lastly, consumer prices rose 0.34% from the previous month in October, which was below September's 0.59% rise. October's result marked the weakest reading since July.
Inflation should ease over November and December, with price pressures projected to average 2.9% over Q4 as a whole.
How should you choose a forecaster if some are too optimistic while others are too pessimistic? FocusEconomics collects Korean inflation projections for the next ten years from a panel of 29 analysts at the leading national, regional and global forecast institutions. These projections are then validated by our in-house team of economists and data analysts and averaged to provide one Consensus Forecast you can rely on for each indicator. By averaging all forecasts, upside and downside forecasting errors tend to cancel each other out, leading to the most reliable inflation forecast available for Korean inflation.
Download one of our sample reports to visualize what a Consensus Forecast is and see our Korean inflation projections.
Want to get access to the full dataset of Korean inflation forecasts? Send an email to info@focus-economics.com.