By Reuters and published by CNA
THAILAND’S headline inflation reached its highest in 13 months in May and returned to the central bank’s target range of 1 percent to 3 percent for the first time in a year, commerce ministry data showed today (June 7).
The headline consumer price index (CPI) rose in May for a second straight month, up 1.54 percent from a year earlier, after the previous month’s annual rise of 0.19 percent, the commerce ministry said.
The rise, which outstripped a forecast increase of 1.19 percent in a Reuters poll, was the first time since April 2023 that the headline rate returned to the central bank’s target range.
May inflation should ease pressure on the central bank to cut borrowing costs, sought by the government, when it next reviews monetary policy on Wednesday.
Most economists expect the key rate to remain steady at a more than decade high of 2.50 percent next week.
The May price rise reflected a temporary low base for electricity due to subsidies, and higher prices of energy and food prices, the ministry said.
The ministry retained its headline inflation forecast for the year of between 0.0 percent to 1.0 percent. It said CPI would probably rise more slowly in June.
“Next month we expect about 1 percent to 1.1 percent, less than in May,” Poonpong Naiyanapakorn, director of the trade policy and strategy office, told a press conference.
The inflation rate is expected to stay positive for the rest of the year and should not exceed 1 percent in 2024, he added.
The core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose 0.39 percent year-on-year in May.
In the first five months of 2024, average headline CPI dropped 0.13 percent from a year earlier, with the core rate up 0.42 percent.
CAPTIONS:
Top: Shoppers shop at a department store in Bangkok on May 31, 2016. File photo: Reuters/Athit Perawongmetha and published by CNA
Front Page: People shop at a market in Thailand on October 2, 2023. File photo: Reuters/Athit Perawongmetha and published by CNA
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