Taipei, March 7 (CNA) Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) in February was up 1.58 percent from last year, due to a high base set during the same month in 2024, the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) reported Friday.
It was the lowest pace of growth for a February in the past four years, according to the DGBAS.
The CPI was also down 0.43 percent from January, but actually rose 0.25 percent after seasonal adjustments, DGBAS data showed.
DGBAS specialist Tsao Chih-hung (曹志弘) said the relatively low year-over-year inflation rate in February was mainly a result of the Lunar New Year holiday falling in February 2024, resulting in temporary price hikes.
The holiday fell in late January in 2025, pushing prices higher during that month.
A more accurate picture of inflation early this year was given by looking at January and February together, when the CPI rose 2.12 percent from the same two months a year earlier, DGBAS data showed, exceeding the 2 percent alert level set by Taiwan’s central bank.
During the first two months, the main driver of the rise in the CPI was food prices, up 3.85 percent from a year earlier, with vegetable prices increasing by 17.09 percent and fruit up 13.80 percent.
Core CPI, which excludes vegetables, fruit and energy, rose 1.61 percent year-over-year during the two-month period.
Tsao said fruit prices continued to rise because they have yet to recover from the impact of recent typhoons and heavy rains last year due to the long intervals being growing seasons.
Despite the lower rate of inflation for February alone, consumers still felt that prices were going up because of higher food, dining out, and rent costs, as well as increases in nearly 70 percent of the 368 goods surveyed by the DGBAS, Tsao said.
Though global crude oil prices have eased, which alleviates inflation, Tsao expected the prices for dining out and rent to continue to rise as service prices remain high in March, resulting in year-on-year CPI growth for the month of around 2.1 percent.
Meanwhile, the producer price index (PPI) fell 0.03 percent from the previous month in February, but rose 3.49 percent from a year earlier, according to DGBAS data.
