Taipei, April 8 (CNA) On the back of a spike in food prices, Taiwan saw inflation increase and hit almost 2.3 percent in March, the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said Tuesday.
Data compiled by the DGBAS showed the country’s consumer price index rose 2.29 percent from a year earlier in March, above the 2 percent alert set by the central bank and beating a 1.58 percent year-on-year increase in February.
The core CPI, which excludes vegetables, fruit and energy, grew 1.63 percent from a year earlier, the data indicated.
In the first three months of this year, the CPI grew 2.18 percent from a year earlier, the DGBAS added.
In March, food prices jumped 4.90 percent from a year earlier after flooding affected the production of fruit with prices soaring 30.78 percent. In addition, prices of vegetables, cooking oil, meat and fishery items also grew 5.12 percent, 4.21 percent, 3.87 percent and 3.10 percent, respectively, while dining-out expenses rose 3.26 percent.
Speaking with reporters, DGBAS specialist Tsao Chih-hung (曹志弘) said fruit price growth in March hit a high in more than eight years and the increase in fruit and vegetable prices contributed about 0.74 percentage points to the month’s inflation.
Tsao said dining-out costs moved higher by more than 3 percent for the fifth consecutive month in March, making consumers feel more apparent inflationary pressure.
According to the DGBAS, the food price spike as a whole contributed 1.32 percentage points to the entire CPI growth in March.
Living costs grew 2.20 percent from a year earlier in March largely as rents rose 2.49 percent, boosting the CPI growth by 0.37 percentage points. Meanwhile, electricity rates and home maintenance expenses also rose 4.48 percent and 2.12 percent, respectively, pushing up living costs further.
Tsao said a decision by the Ministry of Economic Affairs in late March to freeze electricity rates is expected to help stabilize dining-out expense growth and the entire inflation.
He said the March core CPI growth moderated to below 2 percent for 12 months in a row, indicating local consumer prices remained stable.
In March, the cost of a basket of 17 government-monitored household necessities, including rice, pork, bread, eggs, sugar, cooking oil, instant noodles, shampoo and toilet paper, rose 0.62 percent from a year earlier, reversing a 0.57 percent fall in February, the DGBAS said.
Meanwhile, the producer price index (PPI) rose 3.53 percent from a year earlier in March largely due to a rise in prices of agricultural products, computers and optoelectronics items as well as an increase in electricity rates, the DGBAS said.
The import price index rose 1.29 percent from a year earlier in March in Taiwan dollar terms but dropped 2.70 percent in U.S. dollar terms, while the export price index rose 2.89 percent in Taiwan dollar terms but dropped 1.16 percent in U.S. dollar terms, the data showed.
In the first three months of the year, the PPI rose 3.69 percent from a year earlier, according to the DGBAS.
While there are concerns that the Trump administration’s tariff actions are likely to push up enterprises’ production costs, leading to higher product prices to boost inflation, Tsao said the tariff hikes could also hurt demand to send raw material prices lower, which is expected to cap price growth.
Tsao said he did not expect upward pressure on Taiwan’s inflation due to the tariff issue this year.
Even if tariffs result in an impact on inflation, the government will come up with measures to ease the pressure, Tsao said.
In February, the DGBAS forecast Taiwan’s CPI will grow 1.94 percent in 2025.
