Taiwan’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) for April fell for the fourth month in a row. That’s the word from Taiwan’s statistics office on Tuesday.
The April CPI in Taiwan fell 0.8% from a year earlier. A large decrease of over 25% in oil prices is the main reason, and there were drops in electricity and gas prices as well.
But the latest figures show the greatest rise in prices is in foods which had a 1.5% growth. Vegetable prices rose almost 15% due to the recent drought. The costs of prepared food and eating out have also gone up.
Meanwhile, the price of a basket of 17 government monitored household necessities rose 0.04% year-on-year in April. That marks a new low in 29 months.
Despite a year-on-year fall in the April CPI, it is not likely that Taiwan will experience deflation as the core CPI is going up. The statistics office predicts the CPI will likely continue to drop in the second quarter as well.