Thailand: August headline inflation rises 0.52% y-o-y, below forecast

• Sep 02, 2019

Thailand’s annual headline consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.52% in August from a year earlier, below a Reuters poll forecast of a 0.85% increase and July’s 0.98% rise, commerce ministry data showed on Monday.

August headline inflation was the lowest level since January and stayed below the central bank’s 1%-4% target range for a third straight month.

The annual core inflation rate was 0.49% in August, compared with a forecast of 0.44% and July’s 0.41%.

In January-August period, headline inflation was 0.87% and core inflation was 0.55%.

The ministry forecast 2019 headline inflation of between 0.8% to 0.9%, compared with the Bank of Thailand’s (BoT) estimate of 1.0%.

Last month, the BoT unexpectedly cut its policy interest rate by 25 basis points to 1.50%. It will next review policy on Sept 25.

Source: https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/1741104/august-headline-inflation-rises-0-52-y-o-y-below-forecast