Natural gas rates in Taiwan will remain unchanged in March for all consumers, except electric power companies, which will see a 10 percent price hike, the state-run CPC Corp., Taiwan said Monday.

The freeze on domestic gas rates for residential and most industrial users is meant to help ease the growing inflationary pressure in the local market, which is being caused by an increase in oil and natural gas prices amid the Ukraine crisis, CPC said.

For companies such as power generation and electricity distribution businesses, however, the price of natural gas will increase by 10 percent, with effect from March 1, the CPC said.

In January, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in Taiwan rose to 106.01 points from 105.40 points last December, which was a 2.84 percent year-on-year increase that marked the sixth consecutive month above the 2 percent alert level set by the government, according to data from the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel