S. Korea's consumer prices jump 4.7 pct in July

SEOUL, Aug. 1 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's consumer prices jumped at a faster pace in July, raising concerns that inflationary pressure is building up despite the government's anti-inflation efforts, a report showed Monday. According to the report by Statistics Korea, the country's consumer price index rose 4.7 percent last month from a year earlier, quickening from the previous month's 4.4 percent gain. The figure represents the seventh straight month that consumer prices have grown over the government's renewed annual inflation target of 4 percent for this year. Core inflation, which excludes volatile oil and food costs, also jumped 3.8 percent from a year earlier, the largest gain in 26 months. It was up from 3.7 percent tallied for June, the report showed.