Although Typhoon Nanmadol struck Taiwan last month, the consumer price index (CPI) maintained only mild growth, providing more evidence that the typhoon did not unduly drive up vegetable prices, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday.
The nation’s headline inflation indicator rose 1.34 percent from a year earlier, slightly higher than the revised 1.33 percent growth recorded in July, as declining vegetable prices, lower Internet fees and the prices of consumer electronic devices helped offset part of the growth, DGBAS said in its monthly report.
Vegetable prices fell 6.73 percent year-on-year, while Internet fees fell 6.35 percent from the previous year, the report showed.
“Last month’s CPI growth did not factor in the impact from Typhoon Nanmadol because the agency’s price-checking survey for last month was finished before the typhoon landed in Taiwan last Monday [Aug. 29],” DGBAS section chief Wang Shu-chuan (王淑娟) told a press conference.
However, even factoring in Typhoon Nanmadol’s influence, inflation would still be low because it only drove up vegetable prices temporarily on Aug. 28, the day before the typhoon landed, Wang said, citing data from the Council of Agriculture.
“The council’s data showed that average vegetable prices surged to NT$28.4 (US$0.98) per kilogram on Aug. 28, from about NT$20 per kilogram in late August, but the prices quickly fell to NT$22.7 on Aug. 30 and then returned to the current level of NT$20,” she said, adding that this indicated Typhoon Nanmadol would not have any impact on this month’s inflation either.
However, Moody’s Analytics associate economist Katrina Ell said Taiwan’s inflation was expected to pick up in the coming months as the nation heads into the monsoon season.
“The difficult weather could damage crops and push up food prices,” Ell said in a report yesterday.
In addition, Ell expects an increase in the minimum wage and pay increases for public sector workers to help boost domestic demand by encouraging consumers to spend more freely, further adding to demand-side inflation pressures.
The 1.34 percent increase in inflation last month translated into increased costs of NT$804 a month for households with a monthly income of NT$60,000, when compared with a year earlier, with food costs rising NT$267 and gasoline costs up NT$199, while Internet fees were down NT$121, the DGBAS said.
Growth in core inflation — which excludes vegetable, fruit and energy prices — expanded to 1.26 percent last month from a year ago, the highest level since January 2009, DGBAS data showed.
The wholesale price index rose 3.85 percent year-on-year last month, up 0.2 percent from a month ago, the DGBAS data showed.
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