Consumer price index jumps 1.59%

The consumer price index last month was up 1.59 percent year-on-year due to price hikes in farm and fishery products, the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday.

The CPI was also up a seasonally adjusted 0.31 percent month-on-month at 106.40, the agency said.

Last month's CPI posted the largest year-on-year increase in six months, after a hike of 1.75 percent in February, the agency said.

"Because of typhoons in August, vegetable and fruit prices rose by 30 percent and 10 percent year-on-year respectively," said Wu Chung-ming (吳昭明), a DGBAS section chief.

Rising inflation could encourage the central bank to extend a run of 12 straight quarterly interest rates increases in its next review later this month.

"There will be inflation pressure in the second half," said Joan Yang, an economist at Yuanta Core Pacific Capital Management Co (元大京華投顧), adding that the central bank will likely raise rates by 0.125 percentage points this quarter and next.

Last month's core price index, which excludes prices of fresh fruit and vegetables, fishery products and energy, was up 1.59 percent from a year earlier and up 0.15 percent from July.

The core price index last month also posted the biggest year-on-year jump in six months, after a 1.66 percent increase in February, the DGBAS said.