7월 소비자물가 2.8%…석 달 만에 2%대 재진입, 근원물가는 31개월 만에 최고

Translation

According to the "July 2026 Consumer Price Trends" report released on August 4 by the Ministry of Data and Statistics (국가데이터처), the consumer price index rose 2.8% from the same month a year earlier. The inflation rate, which had been in the 3% range in May and June, has thus come back down into the 2% range for the first time in three months. The agency pointed to the sharp narrowing in the rise of petroleum product prices, from 24.7% in June to 15.5% in July, as the background to the slowdown. It explained that a stabilisation of international oil prices and of agricultural produce prices also worked in the same direction. The petroleum price ceiling scheme the government is running had the effect of lowering July's inflation rate by 0.3 percentage points. However, core inflation excluding food and energy stood at 2.6% in July, the highest in 31 months since December 2023. Overall inflation has eased, but underlying price pressure has in fact grown stronger.