Taipei, Feb. 6, 2010 (CENS)--Following 11 consecutive months of decline, Taiwan`s consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.29% over the previous month in January, underscoring gradual upturn of consumption, reported the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting, and Statistics (DGBAS) yesterday (Feb. 5).

Meanwhile, the housing rental index in Taipei City advanced 0.33% over the previous month in January, contrary to the original expectation of officials at the statistics department of the city government. Overall housing rental index of Taiwan also rose, at a smaller scale, in the month.

Housing rental hike overshadows price stability, as housing rental accounts for 23% in the consumer price index of Taipei and 18% in Taiwan`s CPI.

The DGBAS expected that CPI will advance further in February and the hike will be even more evident after seasonal adjustment, since the Chinese Lunar New holiday falls in February this year, instead of January last year.

Wholesale price index jumped 6.68% year-on-year in January, the highest since September 2008. Wu Chao-min, section chief at the third bureau of the DGBAS, however, noted that the effect on CPI will be limited, as businessmen tend to bear the extra cost at a time when the pace of economic recovery is still unstable.

(by Philip Liu)