BANGKOK: Thailand’s annual headline inflation rate quickened in July due to higher energy and food prices, the Commerce Ministry says, but remained below the central bank’s target range of 1% to 3%.
The headline consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.83% in July from a year earlier, after June’s annual increase of 0.62%, and compared with a forecast rise of 0.70% in a Reuters poll.
Inflation in August is expected to be close to July’s pace, Poonpong Naiyanapakorn, the director of the trade policy and strategy office, told a press conference on Wednesday.
In the first seven months of 2024, average annual headline inflation was 0.11%, and the Commerce Ministry has retained its forecast for the full year of between 0% to 1%.
The government’s 500 billion baht or about US$14bil handout scheme is not expected to lift product prices, Poonpong said. — Reuters
