South Korea inflation accelerates in June

SEOUL : South Korea 's consumer prices rose at a faster pace in June than the previous month, government data showed Fr

Published July 1, 2011 Updated July 1, 2011 05:33am

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By Shoaib Ur Rehman

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The consumer price index rose 4.4 percent in June from a year earlier, accelerating from the preceding month's 4.1 percent rise, and gaining 0.2 percent from a month earlier, Statistics Korea said in a statement.

"Grains, fruits, pork, processed goods, oil and dining-out costs all increased from a year earlier," Yang Dong-Hee, head of the agency's price statistics division, told journalists.

It marked the sixth straight month that consumer prices have jumped over the government's renewed annual inflation target of four percent for this year, Yonhap news agency said.

South Korean authorities are fighting an uphill battle against inflation, fueled by higher oil and commodity prices in the international markets.

The central Bank of Korea has been gradually raising interest rates, while government officials have shifted their policy emphasis to containing price pressures from pushing for economic growth.

The government on Thursday raised its 2011 inflation forecast to 4.0 percent from the previous forecast of "around three percent" while lowering the 2011 economic growth forecast to 4.5 percent from "around five percent" previously.

Finance Minister Bahk Jae-Wan told reporters Thursday that these revisions "show the government's strong will to stabilize inflation even through a growth forecast cut."

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