BANGKOK : Thailand inflation rate returned to the target range for the first time since May last year, lifted by higher energy and food prices, the commerce ministry said on Monday.
Thai headline consumer price index rose 1.23 per cent in December from a year earlier, within the central bank’s target of 1 per cent to 3 per cent, after the previous month’s annual increase of 0.95 per cent, the ministry said.
The figure compared with a forecast rise of 1.47 per cent in a Reuters poll.
The core CPI was up 0.79 per cent in December from a year earlier, just under a forecast increase of 0.81 per cent.
In 2024, average annual headline inflation was 0.40 per cent, with core inflation at 0.56 per cent.
Headline inflation in January is expected to be about 1.25 per cent and at above 1 per cent in the first quarter of this year, Poonpong Naiyanapakorn, director of the ministry’s trade policy and strategy office, told a press conference.
The ministry maintained its headline inflation forecast at between 0.3 per cent and 1.3 per cent in 2025, helped by expected stronger economic growth and government stimulus measures.
Last month, Finance Minister Pichai Chunhavajira said the Bank of Thailand would have to lift inflation to the midpoint of the target range and must ensure the baht was competitive.
On Dec. 18, the central bank left its key interest rate unchanged at 2.25 per cent, after a surprise cut in the previous review in October.
It had forecast headline inflation of 1.1 per cent in 2025. The next rate review is on Feb. 26.
