TAIPEI: Taiwan’s consumer prices rose for the sixth straight month in February from a year earlier, as a sharp jump in food prices outweighed the impact of cheaper fuel. The consumer price index rose 2.4% in February from a year earlier compared with January’s revised increase of 0.8%, the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics said Tuesday. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had forecast prices would rise by a much smaller 0.7% from a year earlier.
Food prices in February rose 8.45% from a year earlier, with an 81% surge in vegetables driving up the segment. Food prices have a weighting of around 25% in Taiwan’s CPI. The increases outweighed a 16.74% drop in fuel and lubricant prices.
Month-on-month figures also showed a pickup in price growth after weakness in recent months. The CPI rose 1.94% in February from the previous month.
The wholesale price index, a gauge of production costs, fell 4.79% in February from a year earlier after falling a revised 5.09% in January, the directorate said. Economists had forecast a 4.4% decline in January.
Weak inflation and an economy in recession in the second and third quarters prompted Taiwan’s central bank to cut its benchmark interest rate for the second time in three months in December. The central bank’s next policy decision is scheduled for later this month.
