South Korea inflation cools more than expected as rate cut talk grows
SEOUL - South Korea's consumer inflation cooled more than forecast in September and below the central bank's target for the first time since early 2021, amid growing expectations of an imminent policy easing.
The reading was below the Bank of Korea's medium-term target of 2% and comes amid growing talk among policymakers and market participants about an imminent interest rate cut with the next policy meeting scheduled for Oct. 11. "The data once again backed the case for rate cuts," said Ahn Jae-kyun, a fixed-income analyst at Shinhan Securities, who expects the BOK to lower interest rates next week.
CPI rose 0.1% on a monthly basis, also slower than 0.4% in the previous month and 0.3% expected by economists. Prices of petroleum products fell 4.1% and private services declined 0.4%, offsetting gains in agricultural products and public utilities.
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