S.Korea’s inflation stays at 1% level for 3rd straight month

South Korea’s consumer prices remained steady at the 1% level for the third straight month in November thanks to a drop in oil prices. But economists forecast the won’s slide to the dollar to push the country’s inflation close to 2% in December.

The consumer price index in South Korea edged up 1.5% in November from the same month last year, according to Statistics Korea on Tuesday.

It has remained at the 1% level since September’s 1.6% gain, after falling below 3% in April.

In November, oil prices declined 5.3% on-year, lowering inflation by 0.22 percentage point.

But the softening Korean won following Donald Trump’s election victory will put upward pressure on domestic prices amid uncertainty over his second-term trade policies.

Write to Se-Min Huh at semin@hankyung.com

Yeonhee Kim edited this article.