[Anchor]

Last month, consumer prices rose 3.1 percent from a year earlier, returning to the 3 percent range after two months. However, the increase was largely attributed to a base effect stemming from SK Telecom's 50 percent mobile phone bill discount last year.

Reporter Choi Seung-hun has the details.

[Reporter]

The consumer price index last month stood at 120.05, up 3.1 percent from the same month last year.

After recording 3.2 percent in June, the consumer inflation rate fell to 2.8 percent in July, but climbed back into the 3 percent range last month.

The primary factor that expanded the inflation increase was mobile phone bills.

Last month, mobile phone fees surged 26.7 percent compared to a year ago.

This was due to the base effect from August of last year, when SK Telecom reduced bills by 50 percent for a month as customer compensation for a hacking incident.

[Lee Doo-won / Director of Economic Trends Statistics Division, Statistics Korea: When we recalculate this month's inflation by removing the base effect caused by the telecom company's bill reduction—which was an unusual occurrence last year—it comes out to approximately the 2.5 percent level.]

Petroleum products rose 14.2 percent from a year earlier, pushing up overall inflation by 0.54 percentage points.

The government estimated that inflation would have climbed to 3.6 percent had it not been for the ceiling price system on petroleum.

Agricultural, livestock, and fishery products dropped 2.6 percent compared to a year ago due to increased shipment volumes and government-supported discount events, marking the largest decline in 6 years and 9 months.

Vegetable prices fell 9.4 percent compared to a year earlier, but rose 12.4 percent compared to the previous month.

Processed foods, which have seen a series of recent factory price hikes, rose 1.5 percent, expanding their growth rate from the previous month.

The Bank of Korea forecasted that consumer inflation for this month will likely ease compared to last month as the base effect from mobile phone bills dissipates, while expecting underlying inflationary pressures to continue centered on core items.

Ahead of the Chuseok holiday, the government decided to inject 103 billion won to offer discounts of up to 40 to 50 percent on agricultural, livestock, and fishery products, and to supply 183,000 tons of 19 major seasonal items.

(Camera Reporter: Lee Jae-young, Video Editor: Lee Sang-min)