Last month, the consumer price index rose by 2.1%, which the Bank of Korea analyzed was due to factors such as increased university tuition.

On the 2nd, Kim Woong, the vice governor of the Bank of Korea, explained at a price situation monitoring meeting he chaired that “the consumer price inflation rate in March increased to 2.1%, primarily due to rising prices of processed foods and university tuition.”

The Bank of Korea's exterior. The tallest building on the right, separated by the road in the middle, is the Bank of Korea's new annex. In front of it is the Bank of Korea's main building, completed in 1912, with a green roof. Among the two buildings on the left, the rectangular building is the first annex, and the lower green-roofed building is the second annex.

According to the 'March consumer price trends' released by the Statistics Korea, the consumer price index last month recorded 116.29, marking a 2.1% increase compared to the same month last year. The consumer price inflation rate has maintained the 2% range for three consecutive months since January of this year (2.2%).

Last month, the core inflation rate recorded 1.9%, an increase of 0.1 percentage points from the previous month (1.8%). Core inflation refers to prices excluding volatile food and energy. Among the detailed items, the tuition fees of private universities led the upward trend with a 5.2% increase compared to the previous month.

Kim noted that “in the future, the consumer price inflation rate is expected to remain stable around the target level (2%) as the core inflation continues to rise in the high 1% range, offsetting upward pressures from high exchange rates and downward pressures from low demand.”

He further mentioned that “given the still high uncertainties related to exchange rate and oil price movements, as well as domestic demand trends, it is necessary to closely monitor future price conditions.”