The consumer price index (CPI) edged down 0.56 percent last month from the same period a year earlier as lower fuel prices continued to drag the inflationary gauge, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday.
The contraction appeared to have narrowed for two months, compared with the revised declines of 0.74 percent in May and 0.82 percent in April, as distortions from international crude oil prices taper off, the agency’s data showed.
Of the major consumption categories, transportation and communications costs reported the biggest decline of 5.41 percent last month from a year earlier, as fuel prices fell by 23.19 percent.
Fuel prices last month tumbled by more than 20 percent for the seventh consecutive month, dragging down the CPI by 0.87 percentage points, DGBAS Deputy Director Tsai Yu-tai (蔡鈺泰) said.
In other words, the inflation reading would have inched up by 0.31 percent last month in the absence of oil price disruptions, Tsai said, dismissing deflation worries.
The CPI after seasonal adjustment remained in positive territory with a 0.17 percent gain, the agency said in a report.
Food costs increased 1.92 percent last month, driven by a 10.75 percent pickup in vegetable prices amid hot and rainy weather, the report said.
Meanwhile, egg and fruit costs dropped by 13.03 percent and 3.41 percent respectively, easing the hikes in food prices, the report said.
Core CPI, a more reliable inflationary reference, because it excludes volatile items, registered a 0.57 percent increase last month, virtually unchanged from the revised 0.59 percent uptick in May, a confirmation of benign consumer pressure.
Still, the consumer activity tracker dropped 0.7 percent last quarter, steeper than the agency’s forecast of a 0.54 percent decline.
Tsai attributed the gap to a weaker global economy, which lowered demand for raw materials and crops.
For the first six months of the year, the CPI dropped by 0.65 percent from a year earlier, while core CPI grew by 0.87 percent year-on-year, the report indicated.
The wholesale price index (WPI), a measure of commercial production costs, took a dive of 9.3 percent last month from the same period last year, compared with the revised 9.59 percent reduction in the May reading, the report said.
The report attributed the falling WPI to export prices, which dropped 9.3 percent, while import costs plummeted 13.66 percent last month from the same period a year ago.
The DGBAS said it would be hard to project the CPI trend going forward due to potential disruptions by tropical storms and typhoons that might damage crops and boost their prices.
Taiwan’s long-term economic competitiveness will hinge not only on national champions like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) but also on the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies, a US-based scholar has said. At a lecture in Taipei on Tuesday, Jeffrey Ding, assistant professor of political science at the George Washington University and author of "Technology and the Rise of Great Powers," argued that historical experience shows that general-purpose technologies (GPTs) — such as electricity, computers and now AI — shape long-term economic advantages through their diffusion across the broader economy. "What really matters is not who pioneers
In a high-security Shenzhen laboratory, Chinese scientists have built what Washington has spent years trying to prevent: a prototype of a machine capable of producing the cutting-edge semiconductor chips that power artificial intelligence (AI), smartphones and weapons central to Western military dominance, Reuters has learned. Completed early this year and undergoing testing, the prototype fills nearly an entire factory floor. It was built by a team of former engineers from Dutch semiconductor giant ASML who reverse-engineered the company’s extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) machines, according to two people with knowledge of the project. EUV machines sit at the heart of a technological Cold
TAIWAN VALUE CHAIN: Foxtron is to fully own Luxgen following the transaction and it plans to launch a new electric model, the Foxtron Bria, in Taiwan next year Yulon Motor Co (裕隆汽車) yesterday said that its board of directors approved the disposal of its electric vehicle (EV) unit, Luxgen Motor Co (納智捷汽車), to Foxtron Vehicle Technologies Co (鴻華先進) for NT$787.6 million (US$24.98 million). Foxtron, a half-half joint venture between Yulon affiliate Hua-Chuang Automobile Information Technical Center Co (華創車電) and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), expects to wrap up the deal in the first quarter of next year. Foxtron would fully own Luxgen following the transaction, including five car distributing companies, outlets and all employees. The deal is subject to the approval of the Fair Trade Commission, Foxtron said. “Foxtron will be
INFLATION CONSIDERATION: The BOJ governor said that it would ‘keep making appropriate decisions’ and would adjust depending on the economy and prices The Bank of Japan (BOJ) yesterday raised its benchmark interest rate to the highest in 30 years and said more increases are in the pipeline if conditions allow, in a sign of growing conviction that it can attain the stable inflation target it has pursued for more than a decade. Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda’s policy board increased the rate by 0.2 percentage points to 0.75 percent, in a unanimous decision, the bank said in a statement. The central bank cited the rising likelihood of its economic outlook being realized. The rate change was expected by all 50 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The
RSS