Nat’l Consumer Inflation Up 5.9 pct in Q3

Vegetables are displayed at a supermarket in Seoul on Nov. 20, 2022. (Yonhap)

SEOUL, Nov. 21 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s nationwide consumer prices rose 5.9 percent on-year in the third quarter of the year due to higher energy and dining-out costs, data showed Monday.

The figure marked an expansion from the 5.4 percent on-year growth tallied a quarter earlier, according to the data from Statistics Korea.

By region, consumer prices gained 7 percent in the southern resort island of Jeju, followed by 6.9 percent in Gangwon and South Chungcheong provinces, respectively, the data showed.

The growth in the capital city of Seoul, meanwhile, came to 5.2 percent.

The agency said the national retail sales inched down 0.1 percent on-year in the third quarter due to weak performances of supermarkets and duty-free shops, with Gwangju, 329 kilometers south of Seoul, posting the sharpest drop of 3.2 percent.

On the other hand, retail sales in South Gyeongsang Province gained 2.7 percent.

The national mining and manufacturing output expanded 1.3 percent over the period on the back of the robust production of automobiles, trailers and pharmaceutical products.

The southeastern port city of Busan led the overall gains, with its output soaring 16.4 percent on-year in the July-September period.

The national employment rate reached 62.8 percent in the third quarter, up 1.5 percentage points from a year earlier.

(Yonhap)