BANGKOK, May 3 (Reuters) - Thailand's headline inflation rate rose for the first time in seven months in April but remained below the central bank's target range of 1% to 3% for a 12th consecutive month, data showed on Friday.
The consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.19% in April from a year earlier, after a 0.47% year-on-year drop the previous month, the commerce ministry said.
The rise compared with a forecast fall of 0.25% in a Reuters poll, and was the first time since September 2023 that the headline inflation rate was positive.
The rise reflected a low base for electricity prices last year, higher agricultural prices, and a weak baht, the Director of Trade Policy and Strategy Office, Poonpong Naiyanapakorn, told a press conference.
April's core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose 0.37% from a year earlier.
Poonpong said the inflation was gradually moving into the target range. Inflation in the second quarter was expected to be between 0.8% to 1.0%, he said, and would remain positive for the rest of the year.
However, it was still the 12th consecutive month that annual inflation has been below the central bank's target range, and the ministry maintained its inflation forecast for the year of between 0.0% to 1.0%.
In the first four months of 2024, average CPI dropped 0.55% when compared with the same period a year earlier.
The ministry's inflation estimates have not taken into account the government's pledge to increase the daily minimum wage to 400 baht in October or the 500 billion baht ($13.6 billion) stimulus handout to 50 million Thais that is scheduled for the fourth quarter this year.
($1 = 36.8100 baht) (Reporting by Satawasin Staporncharnchai and Chayut Setboonsarng; Editing by Kanupriya Kapoor and John Mair)
