Consumer Prices Slow at 2.3% in May

South Korean consumer prices rose 2.3 percent on-year in May, down from a 2.5 percent gain in April, according to data from the National Statistical Office Friday.

The consumer inflation is lower than the South Korean central bank's medium-term consumer inflation target of 3 percent, with a plus/minus range of 0.5 percentage point from 2007 to 2009 and the target of 2.7 percent set by the Finance Ministry for this year.

Compared with a month earlier, consumer prices in Asia's third-largest economy rose 0.1 percent in May, the report said.

"So far this year, consumer price inflation has stayed mild at a 2 percent range," an NSO official said. "There was relatively strong gain in prices of gasoline and textile products as well as gas fees."

Tame inflation is unlikely to give South Korea's central bank any reason to raise its key rate in June.

The Bank of Korea froze its key interest rate for a ninth straight month in May amid tame inflation and a weak economic recovery.

According to the report, the core consumer price index, which excludes volatile agricultural and oil prices, rose 2.2 percent in May from a year earlier, compared with a 2.6 percent on-year advance in April.

The prices of fisheries and agricultural goods fell 1.4 percent last month from a month earlier, while industrial product prices advanced 0.4 percent.

Housing rents were up 0.1 percent in May, while costs for public services increased 0.5 percent, the report showed.