Taiwan's consumer price inflation eased for the second straight month in March to the lowest level in four months, data released by the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting & Statistics showed on Tuesday.
The trade surplus for the country decreased in March from last year amid a continued sharp fall in exports, preliminary official data from the Ministry of Finance revealed.
Consumer prices rose 2.35 percent year-on-year in March, slower than the 2.43 percent increase in February. Economists had forecast inflation to drop to 2.22 percent.
The slowdown in inflation was mainly due to the developments in housing, clothing and health costs.
The annual price growth of housing eased to 2.30 percent in March from 2.45 percent in the previous month. Costs for clothing rose 1.3 versus 2.5 percent in February.
Health costs grew at a slower pace of 1.54 percent, while transportation and communication prices dropped 0.78 percent.
On a monthly basis, consumer prices went up 0.27 percent in March, after a 0.17 percent rise in the previous month.
Data showed that the producer price inflation eased sharply to 0.52 percent in March from 3.97 percent a month ago.
The trade surplus for the month of March was $4.22 billion, down from $4.73 billion in the corresponding month last year. The expected surplus was $3.00 billion.
In February, there was a surplus of $2.35 billion.
Exports plunged 19.1 percent year-over-year in March, after a 17.1 percent fall in the prior month. It was the seventh consecutive monthly decline. That was also worse than the 15.4 percent drop economists had expected.
Exports of plastics, rubber, and articles thereof logged the steepest fall of 30.3 percent annually at the end of the first quarter.
Imports fell 20.4 percent annually in March, faster than the 9.4 percent decrease a month ago. Imports were expected to slide by 12.3 percent.
