BANGKOK, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- Thailand's Ministry of Commerce on Thursday pointed out that overall Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by 1.05 percent from the same month of last year.
Consumer prices, a gauge of headline inflation, rose to an eight-month high in January, driven by higher raw food and energy prices, said in a press release issued by the ministry on Thursday.
The largest upward contributions came from raw food and energy prices, said Pimchanok Vonkorpon, director-general of the ministry's Trade Policy and Strategy Office.
The price movements were in line with demand and supply situations, with key factors including higher demand from the Chinese New Year festival and government expenditure, as well as the global economic situation, Pimchanok said.
Food and non-alcoholic beverage prices rose by 1.8 percent due to a surge in the index for rice, flour and flour products which increased at 8.3 percent.
Also, the index for meats, poultry and fish increased by 3.5 percent.
Index for fruits rose 3.5 percent, owing to higher demand for Chinese New Year.
The index for eggs and dairy products rose 1.5 percent.
The index for non-alcoholic beverages (carbonated drinks, sugary drinks, chocolate drinks) climbed almost 2 percent as a result in increase of tax on sugary drinks since last October.
In regards to index for non-food items, Pimchanok said non-food items increased by 0.6 percent.
This was primarily caused by the rise in the indices for transport and communication which went up 1.3 percent; retail fuel and public transport services were up 2.4 percent and 5.9 percent, Pimchanok explained.
The director-general also said that CPI in January 2020 rose 0.16 percent from December.
