Taipei, Aug. 9 (CNA) Taiwan's July consumer price index (CPI) registered year-over-year growth of 1.88 percent, marking a second month of inflation below the local central bank's 2 percent target, the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said Wednesday.Data compiled by the DGBAS showed the July CPI rose 1.88 percent compared with 2022, which officials attributed to a relatively high basis of comparison for energy and food prices.Underlining this was the fact the Core Consumer Price Index (CPI) -- which excludes fruit, vegetables and energy -- registered a 2.73 percent year-over-year increase in July on the back of a rise in the price of services, the DGBAS said.Growth in the price of services, including rents, dining out expenses, education and entertainment, hit 3.1 percent in July compared with 2022, the highest nonseasonal year-over-year increase since September 1996's 3.13 percent, the DGBAS said.On a month-over-month basis, the CPI rose 0.10 percent (0.16 percent after seasonal adjustments), while in the first seven months of this year, the CPI rose 2.26 percent from a year earlier with the core CPI rising 2.66 percent, the DGBAS added.Speaking with reporters, Tsao Chih-hung (曹志弘), a DGBAS specialist, said the spike in the core CPI showed consumers were continuing to feel the effects of inflation.Tsao said the higher CPI growth in July than June came as the current summer vacation boosted demand for travel and other entertainment services.In addition, Tsao said, vegetable prices were pushed up by a typhoon, while a rise in international crude oil prices was also a factor.In July, education and entertainment expenses rise 3.62 percent from a year earlier as demand grew to boost prices in the post-COVID-19 era, and such effects appeared more apparent during the current summer vacation, the DGBAS said.It is possible entertainment expenses will continue to grow in August as demand keeps increasing due to the summer vacation effects, the DGBAS added.As for living expenses, the DGBAS said, home maintenance fees, rents and electricity rates rose 3.38 percent, 1.99 percent and 1.91 percent, respectively, from a year earlier in July.Commodity prices rose at a slower pace of 0.62 percent with food prices rising 1.28 percent in July, when prices of meat, eggs, edible oil, frozen food and grains rose 5.42 percent, 3.98 percent, 5.04 percent, 4.81 percent, and 4.61 percent, respectively, while fruit prices plunged 22.08 percent, offsetting food price growth in the month, the DGBAS said.According to the DGBAS, dining-out expenses also rose 4.45 percent in July.The cost of a basket of 17 government-monitored household necessities, including rice, pork, bread, eggs, sugar, cooking oil, instant noodles, shampoo and toilet paper, rose by 4.66 from a year earlier in June, after a 4.47 percent increase in April, the DGBAS said.Tsao said the CPI in August could grow more than 2 percent as bad weather sent food prices higher and entertainment expenses remained high but these unfavorable factors were short-lived.Meanwhile, the producer price index (PPI) for July fell 3.19 percent from a year earlier due to a fall in the cost of oil, coal, chemical materials, base metal and drugs during the month, but the decline in those prices was partially offset by increases in electricity rates, the DGBAS said.The import price index fell 7.25 percent from a year earlier in July in Taiwan dollar terms and also dropped 11.20 percent in U.S. dollar terms, while the export price index fell 3.98 percent in U.S. dollar terms and also shed 8.08 percent in Taiwan dollar terms, the data showed.In the first seven months of 2023, Taiwan's PPI fell 0.78 percent from a year earlier, according to the DGBAS.(By Pan Tzu-yu and Frances Huang)Enditem/ASG (ICE TAIPEI)

Fonte notizia: Organi di Stampa - Focus Taiwan News Channel