BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thailand’s headline consumer price index (CPI) rose 5.89% in December from a year earlier, in line with analyst forecasts, but above the previous month driven by higher energy and food prices, government data showed on Thursday.
The index compared with a forecast for a 5.9% rise in December in a Reuters poll and followed November’s 5.55% increase.
The pace remains well above the central bank’s target range of 1% to 3%, reinforcing expectations that the central bank will raise its key interest rate at its next meeting on Jan. 25, to bring prices back within target.
The core CPI index was up 3.23% in December from a year ago,the ministry said, versus a forecast rise of 3.28%,
For 2022, headline CPI increased 6.08%, a 24-year high, while the core CPI index rose 2.51%.
Headline inflation is expected to slow to 2% to 3% in 2023, helped by a high base and a global slowdown, senior commerce ministry official Poonpong Naiyanapakorn told a briefing.
The index, however, is set to remain high in the first quarter this year due to a low base in the same period last year, but should not top 5%, he said.
(Reporting by Kitphong Thaichareon; Writing by Satawasin Staporncharnchai; Editing by Ed Davies)
