8월 소비자물가 3.1%↑…“근원물가 기조적 상승세”

In August, the consumer price index rose 3.1% compared to the same time last year, signaling a return to a three-year-high inflationary trend. The spike was largely driven by a temporary effect following SK Telecom's communication fee discount due to a hacking incident, which affected millions of subscribers. Excluding food and energy products, the underlying inflation rate reached its highest point in three years and three months.

Forecasters predict that the upward trend in prices, centered around key items, will continue. The Consumer Price Index, released by the National Statistics Office, indicated a 3.1% increase from the previous year. After reaching a 3% rise in May (3.1%) and June (3.2%), prices cooled slightly in July (2.8%) before climbing back to the 3% range in August.

This surge was attributed mainly to the discount on communication fees. In August last year, SK Telecom offered a 50% discount on communication fees for over 20 million subscribers to prevent churn. As a result, mobile phone bills rose by 26.7% compared to the same period last year. The public service price, which includes mobile phone charges, increased by 6.5% year-over-year, marking the largest jump in 25 years since August 2001.

The head of the Economic Situation Review Meeting at the Bank of Korea, Lee Ho-jo, noted that the temporary impact of the communication fee discount could shave 0.58 percentage points off the consumer price growth rate, leaving it at 2.5%. Oil prices rose 14.2% year-over-year but showed a slight decline in July (15.5%) compared to May (3.1%) and June (3.2%).

The government estimated that without raising the oil price cap, the consumer price increase would have been 3.6% instead of 3.1%. The price of processed food rose 1.5% year-over-year, driven by recent price hikes for bread, snacks, and noodles. The core inflation index, excluding food and energy, climbed to 3.4%, the highest in three years and three months since May 2023.