(Updates with economist’s comment in fourth paragraph.) Nov. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Taiwan’s consumer prices rose for a second straight month after a typhoon destroyed crops, pushing up food and transportation costs. The consumer price index advanced 0.56 percent in October from a year earlier, the statistics bureau said in Taipei today. That compared with the median estimate for a 0.3 percent increase in a Bloomberg News survey of 11 economists. Prices rose a revised 0.28 percent in September. Taiwan is on course to be one of the world’s fastest- growing economies this year after expanding 13.1 percent in the first half. While the recovery has failed to ignite overall inflation, the central bank raised borrowing costs in September for the second time in 2010 to ward off a property bubble. “In an environment where the global economy is looking healthier,” the central bank will probably raise the benchmark interest rate by another 0.125 percentage point in December, Tim Condon, head of Asia research at ING Groep NV, said before the release. The bank may boost borrowing costs by a total of 0.75 percentage point within a year from the current rate of 1.5 percent, he said. Today’s report was released after the close of trading on the stock exchange. The Taiex index climbed 1.1 percent. The Taiwan dollar closed 0.1 percent higher at NT$30.560 versus the U.S. currency, and rose as much as 1.8 percent earlier, its biggest daily gain since January 2000, according to Taipei Forex Inc. Typhoon Megi caused agricultural losses of NT$136 million ($4.5 million) in October, the Taipei-based Council of Agriculture said in a statement on its website on Nov. 2. Food Prices Food prices rose 0.23 percent from a year earlier, today’s report showed. The price of transportation advanced 1.22 percent and clothing prices climbed 0.16 percent. Core consumer prices, a category excluding vegetables, fruit, fish and energy, increased 0.57 percent after gaining 0.71 percent in September. Wholesale prices, which track the cost of goods sold to retailers and producers, climbed 3.84 percent from a year earlier, compared with a revised 3.79 percent increase in September. Inflation this year may be less than the 1.23 percent estimated by the statistics bureau, Perng Fai-nan, the governor of the central bank, said last month. It may exceed that figure in 2011, he also said. Perng and the policy board raised the benchmark interest rate to 1.5 percent in September. --With assistance Jay Wang in Singapore and Michael Munoz in Hong Kong. Editors: Sunil Jagtiani, Cherian Thomas To contact the reporter on this story: Chinmei Sung in Taipei at csung4@bloomberg.net. Adela Lin in Taipei at alin95@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Chris Anstey in Tokyo at canstey@bloomberg.net

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