September 1, 2009
BANGKOK (AFP) - Thai consumer prices fell by 1.0 percent in August, the eighth consecutive month to see a year-on-year contraction, the commerce ministry said Tuesday.
But inflation was up 0.4 percent from the previous month thanks to a hike in oil prices, and the ministry forecast that the consumer price index would return to positive territory in the last quarter of the year.
Annual inflation for 2009 was expected to be between 0.0 percent and minus 1.0 percent, said Siripol Yodmuangcharoen, permanent secretary of the commerce ministry.
"Although our inflation figures have contracted for eight consecutive months it is not deflation," he added.
In the food sector, inflation dropped by 0.1 percent in August because favourable weather in farming had helped buoy supply, causing the price of foods such as pork and fresh vegetables to drop.
But the non-food sector rose by 0.5 percent owing to the hike in retail oil prices, in line with global trends, Siripol said.
For the first eight months of 2009, inflation contracted by 1.9 percent on average.
This was partly owing to a drop in the price of utilities, after the government extended a measure to help those struggling with the cost of living in the economic downturn.
The core consumer price index, which excludes volatile energy and food costs, edged down by 0.2 percent from a year earlier, the ministry said.
