South Korea Jan consumer inflation +2.8% y/y, softer than expected

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea consumer inflation slowed to a six-month low in January, official data showed on Friday, coming in weaker than market expectations.

The consumer price index (CPI) stood 2.8% higher in January than the same month the year before, compared with a rise of 3.2% in December and 2.9% tipped in a Reuters poll of economists. It was the slowest year-on-year rise since July 2023.

Core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy items, rose 2.5%, weaker than a 2.8% rise in the previous month and the weakest since December 2021, according to Statistics Korea.

(Reporting by Jihoon Lee; Editing by Chris Reese)