Taiwan's CPI Growth Hits Four-year Low of 0.79% in 2013

Taiwan's consumer price index edged up 0.33% year-on-year in December , a four-year monthly low. The CPI was up 0.79% for all of 2013, also a four-year low, according to the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS).

Among consumer items, bottled gas, dining-out expenditures, fresh fruits, marine products, meat, Chinese herbs, and electricity all showed a rise in prices during the month. Vegetables, telecom charges, garments, and consumer electronic items experienced a downtrend.

Y. T. Tsai, deputy director of the DGBAS Department of Statistics, indicates that people worried about the possibility of growing inflation when electricity charges were raised last October; however, the CPI grew only 0.56% month-on-month in the fourth quarter, just half of the expected 1.12% rise. The full- year's 0.79% growth was also lower than than the 0.94% that had been forecast. These low figures will alleviate fears of inflation.

In the first 11 months of 2013 the CPI growth rates in Asia's other three little dragons were 2.4% for Singapore, 4.3% for Hong Kong, and 1.3% for South Korea. For the U.S. and mainland China CPI growth was 1.5% and 2.6%, respectively. All of these rates were much higher than Taiwan's.

In December Taiwan's wholesale price index (WPI) inched up 0.02%, ending 21 consecutive months of negative growth. In the same month the average price of imported products, based on the U.S. dollar, dropped by 3.19% on an annual basis; in NT-dollar terms, the reduction was 0.96%. (JL)

Annual CPI Growth of Major Asian Economies, 2011-2013                                                    Unit: %
Year	Taiwan	Japan	China	South Korea	Singapore	Hong Kong
2011	1.42	-0.3	5.4	4.0	5.3	5.3
2012	1.93	0.0	2.6	2.2	4.5	4.1
2013	0.79	0.2	2.6	1.3	2.4	4.3

• The average percentage for 2013 was calculated from January to December for Taiwan and South Korea, and Jan.-Nov. for the rest.

Source: DGBAS