Inflation rises back above 3 pct in Feb. on high fruit, energy prices

South Korea's inflation ticked up to over 3 percent in February on high prices of fresh food items and energy, data showed Wednesday. Consumer prices, a key gauge of inflation, rose 3.1 percent on-year last month, compared with a 2.8 percent increase a month earlier, according to the data from Statistics Korea. The price growth accelerated for the first time in four months. In January, inflation fell below 3 percent for the first time since July 2023, when the figure came to 2.4 percent, but high prices of fruits, farm produce and energy caused inflationary pressure to flare up again, officials said. Inflation then rose to 3.4 percent in August and further to 3.7 and 3.8 percent the following months before cooling to 3.3 percent in November and 3.2 percent in December. The government has said that consumer prices are forecast to ease at a slower pace than earlier expected before reaching its target rate of 2 percent by around the end of 2024. The finance ministry expected this year's prices to grow 2.6 percent. Source: Yonhap News Agency