The Bank of Korea(BOK) has forecast that the consumer price will rise to the mid-one percent range by the end of the year and reach two percent by the first half of 2017.

During a briefing Thursday on the government system on stable inflation targets, BOK Governor Lee Ju-yeol explained why consumer price growth continuously remained below the government target of two percent.

Consumer prices grew just nine-tenths of a percent from January to June compared to the same period last year.

He said that lower oil costs at home resulted in lowering inflation by about zero-point-eight percentage points during the first six months, making such prices the top cause of slowing consumer price growth in the country in this year's first half.

Global oil prices posted steeper gains in the first half compared to the latter half of last year but were still 35 percent lower compared to last year's first half.