South korea: South Korea's consumer prices rose at the slowest pace in five months in January, partly helped by the steady prices of petroleum products.

According to Qatar News Agency, consumer prices, a key gauge of inflation, increased 2% from a year earlier last month, South Korea's News Agency (Yonhap) reported.

It marks the smallest on-year increase since August, when the figure stood at 1.7%.

Inflation had remained above the Bank of Korea's 2% target for four consecutive months from September to December.

The ministry attributed last month's slower growth primarily to petroleum product prices, which remained largely unchanged from a year earlier.

In December, petroleum product prices jumped 6.1% from a year earlier, marking the largest on-year gain since February, when their prices increased 6.3%.

Prices of agricultural, livestock, and fishery products rose 2.6% from a year earlier in January, marking the slowest growth since 1.9% in September.

Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, went up 2.3% on-year in January, the ministry said.