Off the wire
• China treasury bond futures close lower Thursday  • China Hushen 300 index futures close lower Thursday  • Hong Kong stocks close up 0.15 pct  • Spotlight: Japan stipulates no cash for "comfort women" fund until Seoul protest statue removed  • News Analysis: Formal establishment of ASEAN Community sees both opportunities, challenges  • Chinese shares close lower Thursday  • 1st Ld-Writethru: Chinese yuan weakens against USD for fourth day  • Tibet sees growth in wildlife population  • S.Korean president says door open to dialogue with DPRK  • December likely warmest year-end on record in Singapore  
You are here: 　 Home

S. Korea's consumer price inflation falls to record low in 2015

Xinhua, December 31, 2015 Adjust font size:

South Korea's consumer price inflation fell to the lowest in the country's history due to low oil prices, a government report showed on Thursday.

Consumer prices rose 0.7 percent in 2015 from a year earlier, according to Statistics Korea. It was the lowest since the statistical agency began compiling the data in 1965.

The previous low was 0.8 percent tallied in 1999 when the Asian financial crisis hit hardest the economy.

Low crude oil prices pulled down the headline inflation. Dubai crude, South Korea's benchmark, fell below 40 U.S. dollars per barrel from above 100 dollars in the third quarter of last year.

Core consumer prices, which exclude volatile agricultural and oil products, gained 2.2 percent in 2015 from a year ago, up from 2 percent in 2014.

In December alone, consumer prices gained 1.3 percent from a year earlier, marking the highest in 16 months. The consumer price inflation is expected to rise above 1 percent in 2016 due to weak effect from cheap oil. Endit