Vegetables and other commodities sold in a market. (File photo)
MANILA -- The country’s inflation eased at more than a three-year low in October mainly due to lower food prices, including declining prices of rice.
In a press conference Tuesday, national statistician and Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) chief Claire Dennis Mapa said inflation continued to decline to 0.8 percent last month, the lowest recorded since May 2016 when it recorded at 0.9 percent.
Mapa attributed the downtrend in October inflation mainly to the annual drop in the index of the heavily-weighted food and non-alcoholic beverages, including rice, corn, vegetables, and sugar, jam, honey, chocolate, and confectionery.
He said the annual decline in transport index, particularly on petroleums and fuels for personal transport equipment, and the index of housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels also led to lower inflation.
Inflation in September 2019 was higher at 0.9 percent and in October 2018 at 6.7 percent.
Last month’s figure brought the year-to-date inflation for 2019 to 2.6 percent, at the lower half of the government’s 2 percent to 4 percent target band this year until 2021.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has forecast this to be the year’s slowest as the base effects of last year’s elevated rate disappear.
The central bank, in a statement, noted that the lower price of rice and oil in the 10th month this year countered the faster inflation rate of electricity, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), water, and selected food items.
Core inflation, which excludes volatile items such as oil and food, also registered a slower rise of 2.6 percent from the previous month’s 2.7 percent, resulting in an average of 3.3 percent. Last year, October core inflation was at 4.9 percent.
“The latest inflation outturn is consistent with the BSP’s prevailing assessment that inflation has likely bottomed out in October and could start to pick up slightly in the remaining months of 2019 as base effects start to dissipate,” the BSP said.
It projected average inflation this year to stay within the target band, noting that “global crude oil prices have started to stabilize following the recent volatility caused by geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.”
It also said “deepening trade tensions between China and the US, along with other countries in the region, have raised global economic uncertainty, which pose a downside risk to the inflation outlook.”
“The BSP will continue to keep a close watch over latest economic developments here and abroad to ensure that the monetary policy stance remains consistent with the BSP’s price stability objective while being supportive of economic growth,” it added. (PNA)
