BANGKOK   -   Thailand’s headline inflation growth eased in June due to softening food prices and the impact from the low base price of electricity has ended, official data showed on Friday. The consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.62 percent last month from a year earlier, down from the highest rate in 13 months of a 1.54-percent increase in May, according to the Ministry of Commerce. The June inflation rate was below the Bank of Thailand’s target range of 1-3 percent. The core CPI, which excludes raw food and energy prices, rose 0.36 percent year on year in June, edging down from a 0.39-percent gain in the previous month.

For the first half of 2024, the headline CPI came in at zero percent compared to the same period last year, said Poonpong Naiyanapakorn, director general of the ministry’s Trade Policy and Strategy Office.

Headline inflation growth is expected to remain at a low level in the third quarter compared to the previous three months, owing to easing electricity prices from the government’s measures, along with more favorable weather conditions for cultivation and intense competition among traders leading to price reductions, Poonpong told a news conference.

He also noted that the ministry maintains its headline CPI projection for 2024 at 0-1 percent.