The consumer price index (CPI) last month rose 1.13 percent from a year earlier as a correction in transportation costs was not enough to offset rising food, education and healthcare costs, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday.
It was the highest reading for the inflation gauge in 14 months, but was benign enough that the central bank should feel comfortable keeping interest rates unchanged, the statistics agency’s monthly report said.
The CPI reading after seasonal adjustments increased 0.25 percent, the agency said.
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“There is no need to worry about inflation, as overall consumer prices have advanced at a very mild pace,” Senior Executive DGBAS Officer Chiou Shwu-chwen (邱淑純) told a media briefing in Taipei.
The CPI rose only 0.56 percent during the whole of last year, the smallest gain over the past four years, Chiou said.
Last month, food costs — which make up 25 percent of the gauge’s total weighting — rose 2.97 percent, driven mainly by fruit and vegetable prices, the report said.
Vegetable prices increased 21.97 percent and fruit prices rose 13.01 percent, more than erasing a 14.11 percent decline in egg prices, it said.
Green onion prices more than doubled and cabbage prices soared 74 percent, Chiou said, adding that the increases, which should be mitigated this month, could be attributed to a low comparison base last year.
Education and recreation costs increased 1.12 percent, while medical and healthcare costs rose 1.01 percent, amid rate adjustments by travel agencies and hospitals, the report said.
Prices for miscellaneous items gained 0.86 percent due to an increase in gold and jewelry prices, it added.
Transportation and communications costs fell 0.31 percent after international crude prices rebounded 4.33 percent, but prices of domestic telecommunications services fell 6.82 percent from a year earlier, the report said.
Core CPI — a more reliable monitor of consumer price movements, as it excludes volatile items — added 0.57 percent, a sign that consumer prices are stable, it said.
The wholesale price index (WPI) — a measure of production costs — weakened 3.42 percent, easing from a revised 4.98 percent decline in November, the agency said.
While prices of raw materials continued to soften, the pace of corrections tapered off, it added.
For the whole of last year, the WPI dropped 2.24 percent, reversing a 3.63 percent increase seen in 2018, as uncertainty weighed on demand, the agency said.
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