Consumer price hike seen at 2.5% without mobile bills: finance ministry

South Korea's consumer price increase for August, which came to 3.1 percent, is estimated to have been around 2.5 percent when excluding a surge in mobile communication bills following a low base, a senior financial official said Wednesday. "In August last year, there was a temporary 50-percent discount in mobile bills, which served as a base effect, leading to a 3.1 percent rise in consumer prices this month," Kang Gi-lyong, a senior financial official, said during a government meeting. In Augu