Thailand’s headline consumer price index (CPI) in May was up 2.44 per cent year-on-year to 99.55 points, led by prices in energy and fresh food categories, the Ministry of Commerce said Friday. Pattaya News / Thai Enquirer

Prices rise again to pay for COVID incompetence

June 7, 2021

The cost of everything is on the rise

Thailand's headline consumer price index (CPI) in May was up 2.44 per cent year-on-year to 99.55 points, led by prices in energy and fresh food categories, the Ministry of Commerce said Friday.

"The headline CPI rose for a second month in a row but slower than the previous month," said Wichanun Niwatjinda, a deputy director at the Trade Policy and Strategy Office. The CPI in April recorded an eight-year-high by rising 3.41 per cent from last year.

The main factors were energy prices, which jumped by 24.8 percent year-on-year, coupled with increasing prices for pork, seafood, and fruit, Wichanun said.

Excluding energy and food categories, the core CPI index rose 0.23 per cent year-on-year.

Of the 430 product and service items used to calculate inflation, the prices of 121 items rose in May. A total of 112 items saw a decline, while the prices of the remaining 197 items were unchanged.

The trade office predicts an average CPI in the second quarter to rise by 2.3 per cent from last year, before slowly declining in the second half of the year.

"The Thai inflation trend continues to move in line with global inflation," Wichanun noted. – Thai Enquirer