2006 inflation rate at three-year low

This article was published by the Taiwan Headlines on January 6, 2007. It reports that according to the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, Taiwan's inflation rate registered at 0.6 percent for 2006, marking the lowest level over the past three years. Meanwhile, the consumer price index (CPI) stood at 104.3 in December 2006, up 0.7 percent from the previous year.

Government officials attributed the low inflation rate in 2006 to the drop in food prices, thanks largely to stable vegetable and fruit supply owing to good weather. While vegetable prices declined 8.95 percent from the previous year (when vegetable supply was affected by a series of typhoons), fruit prices only increased slightly by 1.04 percent in 2006. Government officials predicted that the CPI will rise 1.5 percent for 2007 due to soaring international raw material prices.

On the other hand, the wholesale price index was up 5.64 percent in 2006, the largest increase over the past two years. Import prices rose 8.83 percent in 2006, while export prices claimed 2.51 percent.

Finally, in 2006, mineral prices increased 20.65 percent, with gravel prices moving up 31.21 percent, prices of petroleum and coal products rising 18.87 percent, and metal prices going up 19.49 percent.