March 1, 2012
BANGKOK (AFP) - Thai consumer prices in February rose 3.35 percent from a year earlier, led by soaring food costs owing to drought in parts of the kingdom, the government said Thursday.
Inflation was almost unchanged compared with January, when consumer prices were up 3.38 percent, according to the Commerce Ministry.
"The food sector, especially vegetables, is facing supply shortages because drought hit several provinces in December and January," said a ministry official.
"Fresh vegetable prices alone soared 25.68 percent from the previous year," he said.
Overall food prices surged 7.18 percent in February, the data showed.
Just months after the end of the kingdom's worst flooding in decades, 19 of the country's 77 provinces have been affected by drought, mainly in northern and central areas, according to the government.
Thailand's central bank in January cut its benchmark interest rate for the second time in three months, to 3.00 percent, to stimulate an economy that shrank 10.7 percent in the fourth quarter of last year from the third.
The months-long floods last year killed hundreds of people and took a heavy toll on Thailand's industrial heartland north of Bangkok.
For the whole of 2012, the ministry maintained its forecast for inflation of between 3.30 and 3.80 percent.
