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SLOWER INFLATION. A customer buys vegetables in a public market. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported on Friday (September 4, 2020) that the country’s inflation rate slowed to 2.4 percent, down from 2.7 percent in July. (File photo)
MANILA – The domestic inflation rate in August slowed to 2.4 percent after two consecutive months of rebound due to the lower rate of price increases in heavily weighted food and non-alcoholic beverages.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Benjamin Diokno, in a message to reporters on Friday, said that this share is within the central bank’s 2.5-3.3 percent inflation forecast for last month and “is consistent with the expectation that inflation will remain benign over the policy horizon. “
“The balance of risks is tilting downward due in large part to potential disruptions to national and global economic activity from the ongoing pandemic,” he said.
Last August’s inflation rate is slower than last July’s 2.7 percent, but faster than 1.7 percent a year ago.
Average inflation in the first eight months of this year stood at 2.5 percent, in the lower half of the government’s target band of 2-4 percent for 2020-22.
Monetary officials forecast that inflation this year will average 2.6 percent, while it will be 3 percent and 3.1 percent for 2021 and 2022, respectively.
Data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Friday also showed core inflation, which excludes volatile food and oil products, slowed to 3.1 percent from last July’s 3.3 percent, which which resulted in an average of 3 percent. Core inflation in August last year is less than 2.9 percent.
Diokno said that “the prevailing interest rate environment and ample liquidity in the financial system, reflecting the significant easing of monetary policy and liquidity-enhancing measures undertaken so far by the BSP, are considered to provide sufficient support. to economic activity “.
“The first signs of recovery in national activity are being noted, and further improvements are expected as containment measures are further relaxed and businesses and households better adapt to the post-pandemic operating environment,” he said.
Diokno said that the monetary authorities “will continue to assess the transmission of the BSP’s policy actions to the economy along with the recently approved fiscal measures to address the public health crisis.”
“The BSP is ready to implement all the measures available in its toolbox in fulfillment of its policy mandate while continuing to assess the impact of the global health crisis on the national economy,” he added. (PNA)
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