Focus Taiwan
Date: 12/08/2020
By: Pan Tzu-yu and Kay Liu

Taipei, Dec. 8 (CNA) The consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.09 percent in November from a year earlier, boosted by surging prices of vegetables and plane tickets, the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) reported Tuesday.

This is the first year-on-year growth of the index, which has seen nine consecutive months of decline, since February, due the COVID-19 pandemic and dropping crude oil prices, according to the DGBAS.

An 11.41 percent rise in vegetable prices from last year and a 21.71 percent rise in plane ticket prices boosted the overall index by 0.43 percentage points, said DGBAS official Tsao Chih-hung (曹志弘) during a press conference held to release the statistics.

Fuel prices and sales launched by the hospitality sector to attract customers still dragged the index down, he said, although the impact waned.    [FULL  STORY]