BANGKOK, June 4 (Xinhua) -- Thailand's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, rose 2.44 percent year on year in May, led by higher costs of energy and fresh food, the Ministry of Commerce said Friday.

Diners sit at socially-distanced tables in a food court in a shopping mall in Bangkok on May 17, 2021. (Photo: AFP)

The growth, weighed by the government's measures of lowering living costs via subsidizing electricity and water bill, eased from a CPI rise of 3.41 percent registered in April.

On a monthly basis, the CPI dipped 0.93 percent in May from the previous month.

Main factors of price rises were energy prices, which jumped 24.79 percent year on year, as well as higher prices of pork, seafood and fruit, according to the ministry.

A man rides an escalator outside a shopping mall in Bangkok on May 17, 2021. (Photo: AFP)

The country's core CPI, excluding energy and food prices, edged up 0.49 percent year on year in May, following April's 0.3-percent increase.

In the first five months of the year, the CPI climbed 0.83 percent from one year earlier, according to the ministry.