©Reuters. FILE PHOTO: New Central Bank Governor Yang Chin-long attends the inauguration ceremony in Taipei, Taiwan, February 26, 2018. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu/File Photo
TAIPEI (Reuters) – Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) and core CPI will be above 2% this year due to rising food prices and possible increases in electricity prices, but will still be lower than last year, the head of the island’s central bank said on Tuesday. .
“Although electricity prices will increase this year, we estimate that both the consumer price index and the core price index will gradually decline,” central bank governor Yang Chin-Long told parliament.
Taiwan’s CPI and core CPI increased by 2.49% and 2.61% respectively in 2023, it added.
Yang’s comments came after he said last week that the central bank would likely not cut interest rates before June, as it may need to raise its inflation forecast for 2024 due to rising prices for consumption.
Taiwan’s central bank is expected to keep its key interest rate stable this week and stay the course until early next year, according to a Reuters poll of economists, as it faces ongoing inflation concerns.