Asia-Pacific

ROK posts 2nd highest CPI growth among OECD members

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-05-04 15:27

SEOUL - South Korea recorded the second- highest growth in consumer prices for February and March among members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), statistics showed Wednesday.

According to the statistics, the country's consumer prices climbed 4.7 percent in March from a year earlier, to rank second after Estonia, which posted a 5.2 percent increase. A total of 34 member countries were surveyed.

Greece, Hungary and New Zealand followed South Korea with 4.5 percent gains. Poland and Israel came after with 4.4 percent and 4.3 percent increases, respectively.

In February, South Korea also ranked second among OECD members in terms of consumer price inflation.

The OECD average of consumer price growth in March stood at 2.7 percent, up from a 2.4 percent gain in February, showing that the global economy is under growing inflationary pressure amid higher oil and food costs, according to the statistics.

South Korea also saw the second highest rise in food prices among OECD members. The country's food prices surged 10.9 percent in March from a year earlier.