Korea's consumer prices grew at a slower pace in April than a month earlier as the government sought to tame inflationary pressure, a report showed Tuesday.
According to the report by Statistics Korea, the country's consumer price index rose 2.5 percent in April from a year earlier, slowing from a 2.6 percent on-year gain in March. The index was unchanged from a month earlier.
April's reading is the lowest in 21 months and marks the second month in a row inflation has been in the 2 percent range.
The so-called core inflation, which excludes volatile oil and food costs, grew 1.8 percent from a year earlier, and also decelerated from a 1.9 percent increase for the previous month.
"The modest price gain tallied for last month can be attributed to contractions in various service charges that include insurance premiums for cars and childcare outlays, as well as telecommunication-related fees," the statistical office said.
Service charges for using childcare facilities posted minus growth of 34.1 percent vis-a-vis a year earlier, with money spent on kindergarten and school lunches dropping 11.1 percent and 19.3 percent, respectively. Such developments occurred after the government moved to expand support for pre-school and school children in answer to public demand.
Telecommunication fees dropped 3.4 percent with outlays for healthcare falling 1.1 percent on-year.
The statistical agency also said overall product prices for April rose 4.1 percent compared to April 2011, but fell 0.3 percent from March, with service prices gaining a modest 1.3 percent on-year and 0.2 percent from the previous month.
The latest report, however, showed prices of farm products jumping 10.7 percent on-year with refined petroleum and utilities costs also moving up 6.5 percent and 5.8 percent, reflecting high global energy prices. Rent paid on housing prices gained 4.8 percent on-year.
The finance ministry claimed that low consumer price gains last month reflected headway made by Seoul to tame inflation that could wreck havoc on the economy.
Efforts to stem farm and fuel prices have offset price gains caused by high global commodities prices, it said.
South Korea's consumer prices rose 4 percent for the whole of last year, which is the upper limit of the Bank of Korea's 2-4 percent target band. For this year, Seoul expects consumer prices to go up 3.2 percent.
For the future, the ministry in charge of the country's macroeconomic policies stressed preemptive measures will be taken to enhance competition in the oil refining industry, while monitoring prices of farm goods and processed food products to reduce the fallout of supply shortfalls that can hike up prices.
It added every effort will be made to prevent sharp hikes in public utility charges. (Yonhap)