Thai September headline CPI rises 2.82% on year, below forecast

BANGKOK, Oct 6 : Thailand's headline consumer price index rose 2.82 per cent in September from a year earlier, after a 2.53 per cent annual increase in the previous month, driven by higher fuel and food prices, the commerce ministry said on Tuesday.

• The reading compared with a forecast rise of 3.06 per cent in a Reuters poll, and remained within the central bank's inflation target range of 1 per cent to 3 per cent.

• The ministry expects the headline CPI to rise further in the fourth quarter, with October's pace seen accelerating from September, Nantapong Chiralerspong, head of the ministry's Trade Policy and Strategy Office, told a briefing.

• Recent flooding is expected to have only a small impact on inflation, he said.

• The ministry adjusted its 2026 inflation forecast to 1.8 per cent to 2.2 per cent from a previous estimate of 1.5 per cent to 2.5 per cent, taking into account the impact of the floods, he said.

• January-September headline inflation averaged 1.54 per cent.

• The core CPI, which excludes volatile energy and fresh food prices, rose 1.50 per cent in September from a year earlier, in line with a 1.54 per cent forecast rise.

• Last month, assistant central bank governor Don Nakornthab told Reuters that monetary policy is "very, very accommodative".

• The central bank left its key interest rate unchanged at 1.00 per cent at a review in August. Its next rate meeting is on October 28.