[Anchor]
Consumer inflation bounced back to the 3% range last month after a two-month hiatus. While last year's large-scale mobile carrier fee reductions made the inflation rate appear particularly high, the inflation burden felt by ordinary citizens remains heavy.
Reporter Chae Heesun has the details.
[Reporter]
This is a food market that provides donated food and daily necessities to low-income residents.
People continue to visit the facility amid persistently rising prices.
[Lee Su-ok / Yangcheon-gu, Seoul: Most people take a lot of daily necessities. We have to save even a thousand won.]
Last month's consumer price index rose 3.1% compared to a year ago.
The consumer price inflation rate recorded 3.2% in June before easing to 2.8% in July, but has now climbed back into the 3% range.
A major factor was the base effect from August of last year, when SK Telecom discounted mobile phone bills by 50% as compensation for a personal data leak incident.
[Lee Doo-won / Director General for Economic Statistics, Statistics Korea: When we recalculate the inflation rate by removing the base effect caused by the telecom carrier's fee reductions, it stands at approximately the 2.5% level.]
Although attributed to a base effect, the inflationary burden on households is far from easy.
Petroleum product prices jumped 14.2% from a year earlier, and processed foods rose 1.5% as factory-gate price hikes were reflected in consumer prices.
Agricultural, livestock, and fishery products declined compared to a year earlier when prices were exceptionally high, but vegetable prices surged 12.4% compared to a month ago.
Core inflation, which excludes volatile agricultural products and petroleum, rose 3.4% last month, while the living cost index, a gauge of perceived inflation, also increased by 3.2px%.
The Bank of Korea forecasted that this month's consumer price inflation rate will ease compared to last month due to the fading base effect of mobile phone bills, but projected that upward pressure centered on core inflation items will persist.
[Yang Jun-seok / Professor, Department of Economics, Catholic University of Korea: The upward trend in manufactured goods prices has not yet ended. With the war in Iran restarting, oil prices are likely to rise again, and the possibility of additional inflationary pressures running high is quite significant right now.]
The upward trend in prices inevitably imposes a heavier burden on ordinary citizens, particularly low-income earners.
The government plans to supply a record-large 180,000 tons of Chuseok festive items and support 100 billion won in discounts on agricultural, livestock, and fishery products.
(Camera Reporter: Lee Jae-young, Video Editor: Lee Sang-min, Design: Cho Su-in)
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