South Korea's consumer price growth slows

Seoul, May 1 (IANS) South Korea's consumer price growth slowed to 2.5 percent in April, a report showed Tuesday.

Consumer prices advanced 2.5 percent in April from a year earlier, down from a 2.6 percent on-year gain in the previous month, according to Statistics Korea. From a month before, the prices were unchanged.

The April figure was the lowest in 21 months and marked the two straight months that the headline inflation stayed at the 2 percent range. The consumer price inflation remained below the upper ceiling of the Bank of Korea (BOK)'s inflation target band of 2-4 percent in April for four straight months, reported Xinhua.

Despite high energy prices, a fall in price service charges contributed to slower consumer price growth, according to the report.

Service sector prices rose 1.3 percent in April from a year before. Public service prices gained 0.6 percent on-year in April, with private service charges advancing 0.7 percent over the same period.

Prices for using childcare facilities plunged 34.1 percent on-year in April, and prices for school meal tumbled 19.3 percent as the government widened its free school meal programme. Pre-school tuitions dropped 11.1 percent over the same period, and telecommunication fees retreated 6.4 percent as domestic wireless carriers lowered their service charges in a bid to meet the government's efforts to tame inflation.