Taiwan's inflation below 2% alert for 7th straight month in November

Taipei, Dec. 5 (CNA) Taiwan's consumer price index (CPI) rose 1.23 percent from a year earlier in November, marking the seventh consecutive month for the index's growth to stay below a 2 percent alert set by the central bank, government statistics showed on Friday.

Data compiled by the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) showed the local CPI's growth in November was the smallest increase since March 2021, when it stood at 1.22 percent.

Judging from the latest CPI data, the DGBAS said Taiwan's inflation remained stable.

On a month-on-month basis, however, the CPI fell 0.14 percent, while after seasonal adjustments, the index rose 0.09 percent, the data indicated.

The core CPI, which excludes fruits, vegetables, and energy, rose 1.72 percent from a year earlier in November, also below the 2 percent alert.

In the first 11 months of this year, the CPI rose 1.69 percent year on year, with the core CPI rising 1.64 percent, the DGBAS said.

The DGBAS said the CPI growth in November largely reflected increases in dining-out expenses, higher pork and egg prices, rising rents, and higher spending on transportation equipment maintenance.

However, a decline in fruit and vegetable prices due to a higher comparison base a year earlier and a cut in the commodity taxes for cars and motorcycles compromised the entire CPI growth in November, the DGBAS added.

In November, food prices rose 1.48 percent from a year earlier with egg prices up 12.72 percent, pork prices up 5.25 percent, and dining out expenses up 3.51 percent, while transportation and communications spending fell 1.15 percent, the DGBAS said.

Last month, 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 2.76 percent, marking the sixth consecutive month that the growth expanded from the previous month, the DGBAS said.

Meanwhile, the producer price index (PPI) fell 2.80 percent from a year earlier in November largely due to a decline in the price of agricultural products, chemical materials, drugs, oil, coal, base metals, and electronics components, the DGBAS added.

During January-November, the PPI fell 1.79 percent year-on-year.

In late November, the DGBAS forecast Taiwan's CPI will grow 1.67 percent in 2025.