In the inflation-dependent economic stimulus of the Yun Seok-yeol administration, led by a 9.6% rise in utility bills, food returned to the Lee Myung-bak high-inflation system with a 2.5% rise.
The consumer price index rose 5.4% in May, a sharp rise from 4% in March, and overtook the 8.3% rise in industrial products under the system of a 9.6% surge in electricity, gas, and water utility rates. became the system.
The fresh food index of 55 items, including fish, vegetables, and fruits, of the National Statistical Office rose by 2.5%, and the cost of living for 144 items soared by 6.7%, the largest increase since a 7.1% rise in July 2008.
Core price (excluding agricultural products and petroleum products) rose by 4.1%, and the 'Food and Energy Exclusion Index', a core price index based on the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), rose 3.4%, the largest increase since the 4% rise in February 2009. to be.
First Vice Minister of Strategy and Finance Bang Ki-seon said at a meeting with the economy ministers on the 3rd, “We will strengthen efforts to stabilize supply and demand by item, focusing on vegetables with large fluctuations in supply and demand, and prepare a total of 34,000 tons of cabbage, radish, garlic, and onion in preparation for uneasy factors such as bad weather in summer. "We will stockpile," he said, "while constantly monitoring the price and growth status of each item, we will manage the market stably through the stockpile and the amount of the existing vegetable price stabilizer and shipment control facility."
On the 30th of last month, the government announced a 3.1 trillion won worth of livelihood stabilization policy as a price stabilization policy, and applied 0% tariffs to seven food raw materials, including cooking oil and wheat, to reduce the consumer price increase by 0.1%p.
On the 3rd, President Yoon Seok-yeol told reporters, "Our yard is in the area of typhoons including our economic crisis." On the 30th of last month, President Yoon announced the execution of 62 trillion won in the supplementary budget. (Because of inflation concerns) Then, why don't you make an additional budget?" He formally expanded the supply.
On the 31st of last month, Deputy Prime Minister Choo Kyung-ho said, "There is no way to forcibly bring down inflation, and if it does, the adverse effect on the economy will be even greater." We will see inflation in the 5% range for the time being," he said, maintaining the high inflation system.
The Yoon Seok-yeol system is building an economic system with a supply advantage of 60% of the GDP of 1,900 trillion won, exceeding the government's annual fiscal 600 trillion won by expanding the supply of 1,000 trillion won to the US-dependent chaebol.
On the 2nd, Lee Chang-yong, governor of the Bank of Korea, said, “Once the inflation subsides, a long-term trend of secular stagnation may reappear. and the possibility of a low-growth environment cannot be ruled out.”
Shin Hyun-song, director of research at the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), said at a conference at the Bank of Korea on the same day, "The possibility of reproducing the stagflation of the 1970s (recession amid inflation) is low, given the world economy's reduced dependence on crude oil and a robust policy system.“
Deputy Prime Minister Choo, Governor Lee, and Director Shin all served as financial bureaucrats in the Blue House and the government under Lee Myung-bak.
Excluding the cost of living in Korea, which accounts for one-third of the US and Japan's consumer price index, the consumer price index in Korea is expected to surge by more than 8% in May.