Taiwanese Consumers Worried Despite Lower Inflation

Taiwanese people are worried about rising costs, despite a dip in consumer prices.

Transcript

00:00 Restaurants on busy streets in Taiwan still have little trouble finding customers,

00:04 but many have either raised their prices or are seriously considering it.

00:09 We plan to raise the prices a little bit.

00:14 Because electricity and materials are going up,

00:20 we hope to raise the prices a little bit.

00:26 And they're not the only ones raising prices.

00:28 Small but noticeable changes can be found on restaurant menus nationwide.

00:33 Both higher costs and high-profile recent food poisoning cases

00:38 have made Taiwanese diners more cautious about eating out.

00:41 If we eat less, we'll have to eat breakfast and dinner.

00:46 Eat less outside. And now there's a serious problem with food safety.

00:50 Inflation in March was both lower than the previous month

00:53 and lower than initially predicted,

00:55 with the consumer price index dropping to 2.14%.

00:59 But surveys show that people still have money on their minds.

01:03 A recent poll of office workers showed that a whopping 94%

01:07 are planning to curb their spending because of inflation.

01:10 On average, workers say they're planning to cut costs by around $120 per month,

01:16 a major cutback considering Taiwan's generally low salaries.

01:20 But some experts say that may be more than what's needed.

01:23 The official inflation rate is $460,000

01:26 multiplied by 2% of the inflation rate.

01:29 It takes about $900 a month or more

01:32 to reduce the pressure on prices to rise.

01:36 And while electricity costs in Taiwan have also gone up this year,

01:40 experts say this should be more manageable than price hikes

01:42 caused by global factors outside of Taiwan's control.

01:46 The increase in electricity prices in April

01:47 may be a result of both costs and demand.

01:53 But the impact of this cost will not be as severe

01:55 as the rise in global raw materials in 2022.

02:00 Inflation in Taiwan may be coming down.

02:02 But with workers already living within such tight margins,

02:05 they might also be tightening their belts.

02:08 John Hsu and Chris Gorin for Taiwan Plus.

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