Taiwan's CPI down 1.84% in Oct

Nov. 6, 2009 (China Knowledge) - Taiwan's consumer price index dropped 1.84% year on year in October, according to statistics released by the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics yesterday.

The consumer price decline is far greater than the drop of 0.88% in September, and is also steeper than the drop of 1.20% that was forecast by the economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires. 

The October decline is mainly attributable to the high base figure of last October when the CPI hit a record high of 107.91, said an official with the statistics bureau, adding that there is currently no deflation issue.

In October, transportation prices fell 0.86% year on year, while food prices went down 4.49%. Vegetable prices tumbled 29.64%.

The price of housing declined 1.05% from a year earlier last month, while that of garments rose 2.57%.

The wholesale price index, a gauge of production costs, dropped 6.23% year on year in October, whereas it dropped 9.47% in September. Economists had predicted a decline of 5.41%. 

In the first ten months of this year, Taiwan's CPI fell 0.85% year on year in 2009. The statistics bureau predicted that the CPI will rise 0.87% next year.