South Korea Jan inflation unexpectedly ticks up

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea‘s consumer inflation ticked up in January to a three-month high, against economists’ expectations, official data showed on Thursday.

首尔（路透社）——周四公布的官方数据显示，韩国 1 月份的消费者通胀率小幅上升至三个月高位，这与经济学家的预期背道而驰。

The consumer price index was 5.2% higher in January than in the same month a year before, rising faster than the 5.0% rate seen in December, according to Statistics Korea. Economists had expected the pace of growth to stay steady at 5.0%.

根据韩国统计局的数据，1 月份消费者价格指数比去年同期高出 5.2%，涨幅高于 12 月份的 5.0%。经济学家此前预计增长速度将稳定在 5.0%。

The index was 0.8% higher than in December, when the monthly rise was 0.2%. A 0.5% increase from December was tipped in a Reuters poll.

该指数比 12 月份高 0.8%，当时月度涨幅为 0.2%。路透社的一项民意调查显示，与 12 月相比增长 0.5%。

By product category, public utility costs rose 4.6% from the previous month while agricultural products jumped 6.2%, leading the index higher. Petroleum products fell 2.8%.

按产品分类，公用事业成本环比上涨 4.6%，农产品上涨 6.2%，领涨指数。石油产品下跌 2.8%。

The core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, was up 4.1% in January on a year earlier, the same as in December, when annual core inflation eased for the first time in 13 months.

剔除波动较大的食品和能源价格的核心 cpi 在 1 月份同比上涨 4.1%，与 12 月份持平，13 个月以来年度核心通胀率首次放缓。

At their policy meeting on Jan. 13, most of the Bank of Koreas board members were seen turning cautious about additional interest rate hikes, though the board voted on that day to raise rates by 25 basis points to 3.50%. Meeting minutes were released two days ago.

在 1 月 13 日的政策会议上，大多数韩国央行董事会成员对进一步加息持谨慎态度，尽管董事会当天投票决定将利率提高 25 个基点至 3.50%。两天前公布了会议纪要。

(Reporting by Jihoon Lee and Choonsik Yoo; Editing by Bradley Perrett)

（jihoon lee 和 choonsik yoo 报道；bradley perrett 编辑）