S. Korea to revise CPI in late Nov.

South Korea planned to announce its revised version of the consumer price index (CPI) in late November as part of efforts to narrow the gap between real and reported prices and better meet the international standard, the finance ministry said Monday. Statistics Korea was working on revising the CPI as the statistical agency had to update the index this year in accordance with the regular revision of the index every five years, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance said in an e-mailed statement. The latest revision was made in 2005. "Economic and social changes will be reflected in the revised CPI, and the advanced statistical methods will be introduced to the new index. As a result, the gap between real and reported prices can be narrowed as the revision will help enhance the reflection of the reality," the ministry said. The new core CPI was set to be launched in late November. The OECD's statistical method that excludes food and energy prices would be applied along with the currently used index that excludes agricultural and oil prices, according to the ministry. The revised version would come out in late November after confirmation by the national statistics committee, the ministry said.