S Korea unveils measures to combat inflation
2011-01-13 17:08:42
Renewing its vow to stabilize prices, the South Korean government announced Thursday a set of measures to tame inflationary pressure including putting a freeze on electricity tariffs.
The government will freeze public utility prices in the first half of the year, encourage colleges to freeze tuition and get tougher on pricing irregularities such as price fixing, it said in a report.
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, who recently called for "war" against inflation, asked ministries concerned to take a closer look at fluctuations in oil prices and exchange rates, apparently pressuring local oil companies not to further raise gasoline prices. The country relies solely on imports for all its oil needs.
Lee also call for fundamental solutions to stabilizing supply of grains as grain prices are heavily influenced by international prices, according to his spokeswoman Kim Hee-jung. South Korea might need to strike grain supply contracts with other countries, the president said.
The set of anti-inflation measures came on the same day the country's central bank raised its benchmark interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point to 2.75 percent, a largely unexpected move aimed at reining in rising inflationary pressure threatening to hurt the reviving economy.