SEOUL, Feb 2 (Reuters) - South Korea's consumer inflation ticked up in January to a three-month high, against economists' expectations, official data showed on Thursday.
The consumer price index was 5.2% higher in January than in the same month a year before, faster than 5.0% seen in December, according to Statistics Korea. Economists had expected the pace of growth to stay steady at 5.0%.
The index rose 0.8% on a monthly basis, compared with 0.2% in the previous month and 0.5% tipped in a Reuters poll.
Reporting by Jihoon Lee and Choonsik Yoo: Editing by Neil Fullick and Chris Reese
Source: Reuters