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 August, mobile phone service charges shot up 26.7 percent from a year earlier, reflecting a low base from a year earlier, when SK Telecom Co. offered large-scale discounts following a data breach.
The country's top mobile carrier offered the discount after suffering a major data leak that affected more than 20 million subscribers.
The government, meanwhile, added that the country's fuel price cap system currently in place had limited consumer price growth by 0.5 percentage point, indicating the August figure could have reached 3.6 percent.
"While the consumer price increase in September is expected to ease compared with August, there are still upward risks, such as uncertainties in the Middle East and climate factors," Kang said.
The government will make efforts to implement measures aimed at stabilizing people's livelihoods ahead of the Chuseok holiday this month, he added. (Yonhap)
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