The consumer price index (CPI) stood at 105.61 in October, up 0.1 percent from a year earlier, according to Statistics Korea. It was the lowest growth in four months since June.
The consumer price inflation tumbled from 1.0 percent in September as the government provided subsidy of 20,000 won (18 U.S. dollars) for mobile phone charges to those aged 16-34 and 65 or higher.
The temporary subsidy to assist people's online activity amid the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic cut services price.
Services price declined by 0.8 percent in October from a year earlier, recording the lowest since October 1999.
Public services price retreated by 6.6 percent in the month thanks to the government grants for mobile phone charges and the increased financial support for tuition fee of high school students.
Mobile phone charges plunged by 21.7 percent, marking the fastest slide since relevant data began to be compiled in January 1996. Tuition fee for high school students nosedived by 74.4 percent last month.
Private services price gained 1.4 percent in October from a year earlier. Home rent increased by 0.5 percent, recording the fastest growth in almost two years since August 2018.
Price for agricultural, livestock and fishery products advanced 13.3 percent last month owing to the continued effect from the unusually long rainy season.
Agricultural product price jumped 18.7 percent on expensive vegetables. Price for onion, green onion, tomato, apple and red pepper powder picked up between 20 percent and 70 percent.
Livestock product price climbed 7.5 percent, and fishery product price went up by 5.6 percent.
Price for industrial products slipped 1.0 percent in October on a yearly basis with the cheaper crude oil. Oil product price dived 14.0 percent, but price for processed food added 1.4 percent.
Price for electricity, tap water and natural gas slumped 4.0 percent last month.
Core consumer price, which excludes volatile agricultural and oil products, inched up 0.1 percent in October from a year earlier.
The OECD-method core price, which excludes food and energy costs, dipped 0.3 percent in October, marking the fastest fall since September 1999.
The low inflationary pressure encouraged the country's central bank to leave its benchmark interest rate at a record low for a protracted time of period in a bid to tackle an economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Bank of Korea (BOK) cut its key rate by 25 basis points to an all-time low of 0.50 percent in May, after slashing the rate by 50 basis points in March.
The finance ministry said in a statement that inflationary pressure would mount in November as the one-off factor of the mobile phone charge subsidy disappears, noting that the future inflation could be determined by the factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the global crude oil price.
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