Consumer prices shot up again

Consumer prices are showing signs of a drastic upsurge again, mainly due to sharp rises in educational costs and agricultural products.

The government is expected to have difficulty attaining the goal of keeping consumer price increases below 4 percent for the year as prices continued to maintain a 4 percent increase on average a month for the past three months since surging to 4.2 percent in January.

According to a report released by the Finance-Economy Ministry Friday, consumer prices rose 0.6 percent in March from the preceding month and 4.4 percent from the same month last year. Consumer prices jumped 1.1 percent in January from the preceding month, but stabilized to a 0.2 percent rise in February only to register a steep hike in March again.

The prices of general consumer goods jumped 4.9 percent year on year, and rose 0.5 percent from the preceding month. Specifically by sector, education expenses such as school tuition fees rose 0.31 of a percentage point in March, followed by prices of farm, fishery and livestock products with a 0.21 percentage point rise, and water and sewage charges rising 0.1 of a percentage point each. They were considered as major factors boosting consumer prices.

``Tuitions for middle and high schools marked a slight rise but those for private universities and kindergartens climbed drastically,`` said Oh Kap-Won, a director of the Ministry of Finance and Economy. ``Farm, fisheries and livestock products also rose sharply,`` he added.

Producer`s prices increased 0.4 percent month on month in March and 2.8 percent year on year.

Yonhap