The consumer price index rose by 1.95 percent year-on-year last month, partially due to higher vegetable prices amid unfavorable weather, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics said yesterday. Photo: Clare Cheng, Taipei Times“A significant increase in food prices accounted for the acceleration in consumer prices, and food prices increased because bad weather disrupted vegetable supply,” DGBAS official Tsao Chih-hung (曹志弘) told an online news conference in Taipei. Food costs rose 2.45 percent, as vegetable prices increased 19.91 percent, egg prices rose 10.17 percent and meat prices rose 5.11 percent amid unfavorable weather, the DGBAS said. The core CPI — a more reliable tracker of long-term prices as it excludes items with volatile prices, such as vegetables and oil products — edged up 1.29 percent from last year, the agency said. In the first seven months of the year, the CPI increased 1.54 percent, while the WPI rose 6.72 percent, the DGBAS said.

Source: Taipei Times August 05, 2021 15:56 UTC