Thailand: Inflation hits nine month high in January
Consumer prices rose 1.13% over the previous month in January, contrasting the 0.38% drop logged in December. January’s figure marked the highest reading since September 2021. The figure was primarily driven by rising prices for food and non-alcoholic beverages. In addition, price pressures for housing and furnishings rebounded.
Inflation came in at 3.2% in January, up sharply from December’s 2.2% and marking the highest inflation rate since April 2021. Annual average inflation rose to 1.5% in January (December: 1.2%). Lastly, core inflation ticked up to 0.5% in January, from the previous month’s 0.3%.
Regarding the outlook for inflation, Jonathan Sequeira, economist at Goldman Sachs, commented:
“This year, we expect core inflation to rise back into BoT’s inflation target band of 1.0%–3.0% as the economy reopens and accumulated input cost pressures pass-through to retail goods inflation. On food prices, government sources suggest that pork prices have come off significantly from their peak prior to Chinese New Year as government interventions prompted the release of sufficient stocks to the market. This suggests that food prices could normalize in February.”