SEOUL, June 2 (Reuters) – South Korea’s consumer inflation quickened in May to a more than two-year high, exceeding market expectations on high oil prices triggered by the Middle East conflict, supporting the case for monetary tightening in the coming months.
The consumer price index (CPI) rose 3.1% from a year earlier, the biggest jump since March 2024, after rising 2.6% in April, according to the Ministry of Data and Statistics. It was higher than the median 3.0% increase forecast in a Reuters poll.
Prices of petroleum products were 24.2% higher from a year earlier.
Last week, the Bank of Korea signalled an imminent turn toward a more restrictive policy stance to curb inflation and support a slumping won. The central bank, which targets inflation at 2% in the medium term, expects consumer prices to rise 2.7% this year.
Annual core inflation, stripping out volatile food and energy prices, quickened to 2.5% in May, from 2.2% in April, marking the fastest pace since February 2024.
The CPI rose 0.5% over the month, the same pace as the previous month, but faster than the 0.3% rise expected by economists.
(Reporting by Jihoon Lee; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Jacqueline Wong)
