BANGKOK (Reuters) -Thailand's headline consumer price index fell for a fifth straight month in August, on weaker energy and fresh food prices, and the commerce ministry said on Thursday the index is expected to fall further this year.
The consumer price index dropped 0.79% in August from a year earlier, more than the 0.70% fall forecast in a Reuters poll and a 0.70% decrease in the previous month.
It was the sixth consecutive month that the inflation rate has been below the central bank's target range
of 1.0% to 3.0%.
The headline CPI is expected to fall by 0.66% year-on-year in the third quarter and by 0.24% in the final quarter of 2025, Natiya Suchinda, deputy head of the Trade Policy and Strategy Office, told a press conference.
The full-year inflation rate could be negative, she said, as the rate averaged just 0.08% in the first eight months of 2025. The ministry will review its current 2025 forecast for 0% to 1%.
"If asked whether it's deflation, the answer is not yet, as it has been more driven by supply rather than demand," she said.
Despite the run of negative headline CPI readings, core consumer prices have still increased.
The core CPI, which excludes volatile energy and fresh food prices, rose 0.81% in August from a year earlier, compared with a forecast increase of 0.75% and a 0.84% rise in the previous month.
In the January-August period, annual core inflation averaged 0.94%, the ministry said.
Last month, the central bank cut its key interest rate by 25 basis points to a near three-year low of 1.50% to support a slowing economy. The next rate meeting is on October 8, when some economists expect a further reduction.
(Reporting by Orathai Sriring, Kitiphong Thaichareon and Thanadech Staporncharnchai; Editing by John Mair and Tom Hogue)
