Inflation accelerates to 2.5% in October

The rate of increase in consumer prices accelerated last month due to higher food prices, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) announced.
The country’s headline inflation hit 2.5 percent in October this year, faster than 2.3 percent in September and 0.8 percent in the same month last year, PSA data showed.

Last month’s inflation rate was the fastest in three months and was at the upper end of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas forecast range of 1.9 percent to 2.7 percent.

The central bank previously anticipated that consumer prices would rise in October due to higher electricity rates and food prices caused by recent typhoons that disrupted production and harvests.

“The higher headline inflation was primarily due to rising inflation for heavy weights and non-alcoholic beverages,” the PSA said in a statement.

Food inflation broke through five consecutive months of slowdown, settling at a faster pace of 2.1 percent in October from 1.5 percent in September and minus 1.3 percent in the same month in 2019.

“The higher inflation in the country’s food index was mainly due to the jump in inflation of the meat index by 4.7 percent during the month, from 2.9 percent in September 2020,” said PSA .

Inflation rates were also higher for fish, as well as oils and fats, at 3.7 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively.

Other food groups such as rice, corn and vegetables, meanwhile, continued to record negative annual rates during the month.

Likewise, inflation for education rose 1.2 percent, while restaurants and miscellaneous goods and services rose 2.4 percent in September.

On the other hand, slowdowns in inflation were observed in alcoholic beverages and tobacco (11.3 percent), clothing and footwear (1.7 percent), housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (0.9 percent). ), health (2.7 percent) and transportation (7.9 percent).

In October, core inflation, which excludes certain food and energy, slowed to 3.0 percent from 3.2 percent the previous month, but faster than 2.6 percent a year ago.
In the first 10 months of the year, the inflation rate stood at 2.5 percent, well below the Duterte administration’s target of 2.0 to 4.0 percent.