Consumer prices rose for a fourth consecutive month last month, increasing 1.34 percent from a year ago, after a revised 1.26 percent gain in March, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday.
The wholesale price index (WPI) climbed 9.09 percent year-on-year last month, chiefly because of a surge in global raw material prices, which posted the highest growth in 20 months, the statistics agency said.
“The WPI has reflected rising international raw materials prices, such as crude oil, metals and chemicals, since it posted growth for the first time last November,” DGBAS section chief Wu Chao-ming (吳昭明) told a media briefing.
But Wu noted the key inflation gauge — the consumer price index (CPI) — had yet to markedly reflect the increase on the WPI as it usually lags by six months, adding that inflationary pressures were not imminent yet.
Standard Chartered economist Tony Phoo (符銘財) agreed, saying by telephone that local inflation was still “moderate” as the core CPI, which excludes volatile vegetable, fruit, fish and energy prices, remained relatively low.
The core CPI grew 0.24 percent year-on-year and 0.7 percent from a month earlier, the data showed.
On a month-on-month basis, the CPI edged up 0.84 percent last month, which DGBAS officials attributed to new sales of spring and summer clothing and the rising prices of eggs, fruits and tourgroup fees, the agency said.
In the first four months, the CPI climbed 1.3 percent on a yearly basis, slightly higher than DGBAS’ forecast rise of 1.27 percent for the whole year.
Phoo said that given the high unemployment rate and still moderate inflation, chances that the central bank would raise the discount rate in its next policy meeting next month were very low.
“There’s no urgency for the central bank to hike the discount rate yet, but instead, it would likely raise reserve requirements and continue to issue long-term negotiable certificates of deposits to absorb liquidity in the market,” Phoo said.
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