<Anchor> The



government predicted that the inflation rate this summer would be around 6% as the public utility bills went up.

As for how high this is, the last time inflation rose to the 6% level was during the Asian financial crisis in 1998.



Next is reporter Jeong Hye-jin.



<Reporter>



Cooking oil showed signs of hoarding in the aftermath of the international grain price hike.



There has been no fear of shortages, but prices continue to rise.



[Mart consumers: For storage at home, I heard that (cooking oil price) rises, so I buy a few for stockpiling.]



Next month, some canola oil sold at convenience stores will rise by 20.8% and press olive oil by 17.7%. .



Some commercial products have also recently jumped in price by up to 20%.



In this way, food prices are constantly rising, and table prices are at risk.



In the first quarter of this year, the average monthly food cost of a four-person household exceeded 1.06 million won, a 9.7% increase from a year ago.



By item, the cost of eating out was the largest, rising 17% in one year, and the purchase of food and non-alcoholic beverages also increased by 4.3%.



The problem is that prices in sectors that are difficult to reduce, such as utility bills and food expenses, have a large increase in prices.



Last month, prices for electricity, gas and water rose 9.6% from a year ago, the highest rate since January 2010, when counting began.



In particular, electricity and gas rates are directly related to industrial activities and consumer life, and have a huge ripple effect on the entire economy.



[Joo Won/Head of Economic Research Department, Hyundai Research Institute: Raw materials, grains, minerals, and then energy prices are all rising, so the perceived price and consumer price that Koreans feel will be recorded at a fairly high level (seems to be)



] The price increase is expected to increase the price by 0.08%, and the inflation rate this summer is expected to be around 6%.



The 6% rise is the first since the financial crisis in November 1998, and the high inflation is expected to continue for a while as the government does not have enough credit cards amidst the international supply shortage and high exchange rate.



(Video coverage: Park Jin-ho, Video editing: Jeon Min-gyu)



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