BANGKOK, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Thailand's headline inflation rate quickened in December 2024 and returned to the central bank's target range, driven by higher fuel and food prices, official data showed on Monday.
The consumer price index (CPI) rose 1.23 percent last month from a year earlier, quickening from a 0.95 percent increase in November, according to the Ministry of Commerce.
The rise in December inflation brought the rate back within the Bank of Thailand's target range of 1-3 percent for the first time in seven months.
The core CPI, which excludes raw food and energy prices, increased 0.79 percent year-on-year in December, edging down from a 0.80 percent gain in the previous month.
For 2024, the Southeast Asian country's headline CPI picked up 0.40 percent compared to a year earlier.
Headline CPI is expected to range between 0.3 percent and 1.3 percent in 2025, fueled by expansion in private investment and consumption, along with an uptrend in foreign tourist arrivals, said Poonpong Naiyanapakorn, director general of the ministry's trade policy and strategy office.
However, the government's measures on reducing living costs and energy prices, a higher base for agricultural products from last year, as well as slowing sales in the real estate and automobile sectors, are anticipated to slow inflation growth, Poonpong told a news conference. ■