Bloomberg
Consumer prices unexpectedly fell for a second straight month last month as vegetable costs declined, the statistics bureau said in a statement in Taipei.
The consumer price index fell a seasonally adjusted 0.26 percent from September, the bureau said. Prices were expected to remain unchanged last month, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of 14 economists. From a year earlier, prices rose 2.62 percent after rising 3.1 percent in September, today's report showed.
Falling consumer prices in the last two months may not discourage the central bank from increasing its benchmark interest rate as average inflation for the first 10 months was higher than the bank's projection, economists such as Grand Cathay Securities Corp's (
The Central Bank of China has raised its benchmark rate at its last five quarterly policy meetings and Governor Perng Fai- nan (彭淮南) said on Oct. 26 that further increases are needed to keep inflation in check. Inflation averaged 2.29 percent in the first 10 months of the year, official figures show, compared with the central bank's forecast of 2.13 percent.
Without adjusting for seasonal factors, the consumer price index fell 0.19 percent last month from the previous month. Fruit costs fell 16.8 percent from the previous month, without adjusting for seasonal factors, and from a year earlier, they rose 28.8 percent.
Food costs last month decreased 1.05 percent from the previous month, without adjusting for seasonal factors, and from a year earlier, they rose 8.51 percent. Vegetable costs rose 17.4 percent from the previous month and gained 29.8 percent from a year earlier.
Core consumer prices, which exclude food and energy and are tracked by the central bank, rose 0.50 percent from the previous month after dropping 0.04 percent in September, today's report showed. From a year earlier, core prices gained 0.53 percent last month after rising a revised 0.67 percent the previous month. The wholesale price index rose 0.14 percent from September, seasonally adjusted, and rose 0.10 percent from a year earlier, the bureau said.
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