Seoul, April 02 (QNA) - South Korea's consumer prices rose 2.2 percent year-on-year in March, driven by rising global oil prices due to ongoing tensions in the Middle East and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
This figure represents the largest annual increase since last December, when inflation reached 2.3 percent, exceeding the government's target of 2 percent.
South Korea's Ministry of Data and Statistics attributed this rise primarily to a significant jump in petroleum product prices, which surged 9.9 percent compared to last year - the highest rate since October 2022, amid the impact of the Russian-Ukrainian war at that time.
Specifically, diesel and gasoline prices saw sharp increases of 17 percent and 8 percent year-on-year, respectively.
Conversely, prices for agricultural, livestock, and fisheries products fell by 0.6 percent year-on-year, primarily due to a sharp decline in agricultural product prices of 5.6 percent year-on-year, while livestock and fisheries prices rose by 6.2 percent and 4.4 percent, respectively.
Service prices also increased by 2.4 percent, driven by higher insurance costs, while core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose by 2.2 percent year-on-year last month. (QNA)