BANGKOK, 4 Feb 2014, January’s inflation rate is the highest in six months, thanks to consumer spending during the Chinese New Year.
According to Deputy Permanent Secretary of Commerce Urawee Ngowroongrueng, last month’s General Consumer Price Index (CPI) on inflation rose to 106.46 points, 0.42% higher than that of December 2013 and a jump of 1.93% year-on-year; the highest in six month since last August’s 1.59%.
The increase was attributed to food and non-alcoholic beverages price indexes, which increased by 0.67%, along with the rising prices of poultry, seafood, pork, fruit and eggs during the the Chinese New Year.
The General CPI of food and non-alcoholic beverages last month increased 0.30% on the back of price hikes in fuel, electricity, cigarettes and liquors, she said.
She further said that this year’s inflation rate would be between 2-2.8% ,assuming that the annual GDP was at 3-5%, Dubai crude oil price was between 95-115 U.S. dollars a barrel, the baht was traded in the range of 29-34 baht against the greenback, and the government maintained its current policies on reducing the living expenses.
Miss Urawee also said that 202 out of 450 commodity products had their prices increased, whereas 58 items had their prices decreased and the prices of the rest of the items remained unchanged. She was also confident that the slowdown of the inflation rate would not lead to deflation.
