Seoul: South Korea's consumer prices rose by more than 2 percent for the second consecutive month in July, with the increase largely attributed to higher costs of industrial goods and services, as revealed by government data on Tuesday.
According to Yonhap News Agency, consumer prices, which serve as a crucial indicator of inflation, climbed 2.1 percent from the previous year in July, based on data from Statistics Korea. Inflation had previously surpassed the Bank of Korea's 2 percent target for four months in a row until April, before decreasing to 1.9 percent in May. It subsequently rose to 2.2 percent in June.
The statistics agency indicated that the growth in July was primarily due to the ongoing depreciation of the South Korean won, which resulted in increased import prices for industrial goods. Additionally, a consistent rise in service prices contributed to the inflationary trend.