Taiwan’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) for July hit a new 17-month high as of March 2013. The government statistics office cited on Tuesday that the CPI rose 1.75% from a year earlier. That’s due to a rise in the prices of food, gas and household electricity.
Among the food prices, those of eggs, meat, fruit and seafood went up the most.
The statistics office’s Deputy Director Tsai Yu-tai said July’s CPI turned out to be close to the estimate made in May.
“We estimated in May that the CPI would rise 1.79% for the third quarter. July’s CPI rose 1.75%, so the CPI turned out not to be too far from the estimate. The CPI for the year then rose 1.53%. If everything goes as smoothly as we predict, I think overall commodity prices will still be stable,” said Tsai.
Meanwhile, dining out costs rose 4.24% from a year earlier, the highest level in 66 months.