© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A shopkeeper waits for customers at a traditional market in Seoul, South Korea, January 14, 2022. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji
SEOUL (Reuters) – Consumer inflation expectations in South Korea rose in January, buoyed by sentiment about the economy and improving economic conditions, a central bank survey showed on Thursday.
Average consumer inflation expectations over the next 12 months rose to 3.9% in January, from 3.8% in December, according to a Bank of Korea survey of 2,500 households nationwide, conducted on Jan. 9-16.
This was the first increase in three months, after a seven-month hit in the previous month. It peaked at 4.7% in July, the highest in at least two decades.
The number of respondents who rated government spending as a factor that affected consumer prices rose by 8.6 percentage points to 75.9%, while most other factors fell. South Korea raised electricity prices in the first quarter by nearly 10%.
In the meantime, the number of consumers rose to 90.7 from 90.2, in its second straight month of gains, with a small index on consumer sentiment by 0.7 points and household income by 0.4.
