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Korea Inflation

Korea Inflation

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 2014 to 2023.
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 declines to lowest level since July 2023 in January

Inflation dropped to 2.8% in January below December’s 3.2%. January's figure represented the weakest inflation rate since July 2023. Looking at the details of the release, prices for housing and utilities increased at a softer pace in January and prices for transportation contracted at a broadly steady pace compared to the previous month's reading. Meanwhile, food and non-alcoholic beverages price growth moderated. Annual average inflation fell to 3.4% in January (December: 3.6%). Meanwhile, core inflation fell to 2.5% in January, from December’s 2.8%. Finally, consumer prices rose 0.39% from the previous month in January, accelerating from the 0.04% increase logged in December. January's uptick was the sharpest increase in prices since September 2023.

Consensus Forecasts and Projections for the next ten years

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 30 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.

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