Thailand’s June headline CPI up 2.42% y/y, below forecast

[BANGKOK] Thailand’s headline consumer price index rose by 2.42 per cent in June from a year earlier, following an annual rise of 2.79 per cent the previous month, the commerce ministry said on Monday.

The reading compared with a forecast increase of 2.79 per cent in a Reuters poll, and was inside the central bank’s target inflation range of 1 per cent to 3 per cent.

The core CPI, which excludes volatile energy and fresh food prices, rose 1.23 per cent in June compared to a year earlier.

The ministry maintained its full-year inflation forecast of 1.5 per cent to 2.5 per cent this year.

Thailand’s headline consumer price index was seen rising further, Natiya Suchinda, deputy head of the Trade Policy and Strategy Office, told a media briefing. REUTERS