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South Korea index rebasing brings down 2011 inflation

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Statistics Korea said the revision was the result of its scheduled change of the base year for the consumer price index (CPI) to 2010 from the previous 2005, as well as the index's composition and weightings.

Exclusion of gold rings from the index alone chopped a quarter of a percentage point off average CPI growth year-on-year, it said, adding gold rings were no longer a consumption item.

The adjustment reduced the number of items on the CPI to 481 from 489. The weighting of industrial goods on the index rose to 31.77 percent from 30.74 percent, while that of services dropped to 55.64 percent from 60.42 percent.

The country readjusts the index every five years.

Under the new index, the rates of CPI growth were revised for every month since January 2010, with CPI growth for October changed to 3.6 percent year-on-year from the previous 3.9 percent and to 3.8 percent from 4.3 percent for September.

Copyright Reuters, 2011