South Korea's consumer prices rise 3.7% in January

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis

SEOUL, Feb. 2 (Chinese media) -- South Korea's consumer prices rose 3.7 percent in January from a year earlier over falling crude oil prices, the National Statistical Office (NSO) said Monday.

The rising pace of the consumer price index (CPI) was 0.1 percent lower than the previous month, the NSO said.

At a report released on Monday, the NSO attributed the slide of CPI to decrease in prices for oil products, such as liquefied petroleum gas and kerosene, both of which fell 1.7 percent in price in December. The drop of housing- and utility-related expenditures, which lost 0.3 percent from the previous month, as well as the miscellaneous goods prices, which declined by 0.2 percent, were also listed as causes at the report.

However, items such as grocery prices and medical expenditures showed an upward movement due to seasonal conditions.

The consumer price index showed an annual up-rise of 4.7 percent in 2008, with soaring energy and raw material prices.