South Korea prioritises tackling inflation

Higher costs: A shopkeeper waits for customers at a traditional market in Seoul. South Korea’s consumer inflation hovered near a decade high in January and remained above the central bank’s 2% target for a 10th straight month. — Reuters

SEOUL: South Korea’s economic policies should focus on stabilising consumer inflation and managing household debt as higher interest rates have made repayments more onerous, President Moon Jae-in says, with just a few months left in office.

Presiding a cabinet meeting yesterday, Moon said consumer price pressures are building which could hurt household finances at a time when interest payments for households are also higher following the Bank of Korea’s back-to-back policy rate hikes.