Thailand’s inflation rate fell to a five-year low in December at 0.60%, bringing the full-year rate to 1.89%, according to the Commerce Ministry.
Somkiat Triratpan, the ministry's inspector-general, said the consumer price index, which used to determine the headline inflation, stood at 106.65 points in December or 0.60% rise year-on-year, the lowest in 62 months.
It was the seventh straight month that the index continued to ease. In November, monthly inflation came in at 1.26%, after readings of 1.48% in October, 1.75% in September, 2.09% in August, 2.16% in July, 2.35% in June and 2.62% in May.
The index for food rose by 3.16% y-o-y while non-food sector saw a decline of 0.74% in the month.
The core inflation, which taken out highly fluctuated prices of fresh food and energy prices, stood at 105.39 points in December, or an increase of 1.69% from the same month of 2013. The core inflation for 2014 was 1.59%.
Mr Somkiat said the inflation slow in December was due mainly to the lower oil prices and the restructuring of local energy prices, while prices of some fresh food and vegetables fell in the month.
The ministry expected inflation to grow at slower paces over the next few months, in line with the global energy prices.
He said the ministry would later revise the inflation target for 2015 from the current projection at between 1.8% and 2.5% due to the lower oil prices.