Sat, Nov 06, 2010 page12

• CPI edges up on high oil prices

  INFLATION: The DGBAS attributed the rise to a weak greenback, which pushed up fuel prices and production costs, as well as higher food prices because of Typhoon Megi

  • By Ted Yang / Staff Reporter
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  The consumer price index (CPI) climbed 0.56 percent from a year earlier last month on the back of rising global crude oil prices, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday.

  Last month’s increase compares with a revised 0.28 percent gain in September, the DGBAS said.

  A weakening US dollar drove international raw materials prices higher, which in turn pushed up domestic fuel prices and upstream production costs, the agency said.

  “Last month’s consumer prices rose across the board, with -transportation-related prices posting the largest annual growth at 1.22 percent amid rising international oil prices,” DGBAS section chief Wu Chao-ming (吳昭明) told a media briefing.

  The core CPI — which excludes volatile vegetable, fruit, fish and energy prices — climbed for the ninth straight month, rising 0.57 percent from a year earlier last month, DGBAS data showed.

  Wu attributed the hike in transportation fees partly to a lower comparison base last year, when the government reduced commodity taxes for automobiles and motorcycles, adding that increased overseas tour fees also prompted the CPI to rise.

  On a monthly basis, the CPI rose 0.66 percent last month, compared with a 0.1 percent gain in September, as winter clothing hit the shelves and Typhoon Megi drove up vegetable and fruit prices, the DGBAS said.

  In the first 10 months of the year, the CPI climbed 0.88 percent year-on-year, it said. For the full year, the DGBAS had earlier predicted that it would expand 1.23 percent.

  The wholesale price index (WPI) rose 3.84 percent year-on-year, but dropped 0.53 percent from a month earlier because of the NT dollar’s 2.95 percent appreciation against the US dollar last month, the -DGBAS said.

  “If we look at the indexes of export and import prices denominated in the US dollar, we will see a substantial rise from a month ago,” Wu said, adding that global raw material prices would remain at high levels in the near future beacuse of the weakening US dollar and increasing demand in Asian emerging countries.

  “The appreciation of the NT dollar will partly offset the rise in raw material prices and thus decrease upward pressure on Taiwan’s consumer prices,” Liang Kuo-yuan (梁國源), president of the Taipei-based Polaris Research Institute, said by telephone yesterday.

  Taiwan’s inflation is the mildest in the Greater China area and is low compared to Southeast Asian countries, Liang said.

  Separately, the central bank said the appreciation of the NT dollar would “stabilize” the nation’s import prices, citing the yearly growth of the import price index released by the DGBAS yesterday.

  The central bank said NT dollar-dominated import prices rose only 7.87 percent in the first 10 months, compared with a 12.51 percent gain if priced with the US dollar.

  “The difference of 4.64 percentage points indicated the rise in the value of the NT dollar,” said Lin Sun-yuan (林孫源), the director-general of the central bank’s department of foreign exchange.

  However, the central bank refused to comment on whether there was still room for the local currency to appreciate, stressing that it is determined by supply and demand on the foreign exchange markets.
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