South Korea inflation quickens on one-off factor, misses expectations

SEOUL, Sept 2 : South Korea's consumer inflation quickened in August due to low-base effects from the previous comparable period a year ago, data showed on Wednesday, but was lower than expectations.The consumer price index (CPI) rose 3.1 per cent in August from a year earlier, after climbing 2.8 per cent in July, according to the Ministry of Data and Statistics. That compared with a median forecast for a 3.2 per cent increase in a Reuters poll of economists. Prices of public services rose 6.5 per cent, driven by a one-off factor of 26.7 per cent jump in mobile service fees due to temporary price discounts in August last year. Petroleum prices were up 14.2 per cent, after rising 15.5 per cent in July.Without the one-off effect of mobile service fees, inflation would have been weaker at 2.5