Thai Feb headline CPI drops 1.17% year-over-year, seen down again in March

 

FILE PHOTO: A mother and her daughter shop for bananas at a market in Bangkok, Thailand, March 31, 2016. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha

 

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's headline consumer price index in February dropped a bigger than expected 1.17% from a year ago due to lower food prices and government measures to curb living costs, particularly utility bills, the commerce ministry said.

 

The February reading, marking a 12th straight month of decline, compared with a forecast fall of 0.20% in a Reuters poll and January's 0.34 decline.

 

Without the government measures, the index would have fallen only 0.12%, ministry official Phusit Ratanakul Sereroengrit told a briefing on Friday.

 

The main index is likely to fall again in March but at a slower pace, he said.

 

The ministry has forecast headline inflation at 0.7-1.7% this year, with prices picking up from the second quarter.

 

In February, the core CPI index rose 0.04% from a year earlier, compared with a forecast of a 0.17% increase.

 

In January-February, the headline CPI index dropped 0.75% from a year earlier, while the core rate rose 0.12%.

 

(Reporting by Kitiphong Thaichareon; Writing by Orathai Sriring; Editing by Ed Davies)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-03-08

 

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and yet the baht stays strong  it has to affect exports surely 

Stagflation on the horizon.

The annual cycle of reporting growth prediction reductions is well underway and its only March. ???? 

Lower food prices ?   Supermarkets just keep piling it on; more expensive than Europe, Oz and USA.   Mrs constantly moans about Markets hiking prices lately as well !

Cooking oil up to 50 baht a liter.Bit of a big rise there.