MANILA – The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) projects the rate of price increases in July to range between 2 to 2-3 percent.
In a Viber message to journalists Thursday, BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno said the central bank’s Department of Economic Research (DER) considers as upside risks to this month’s inflation rate the higher domestic fuel and rice prices.
Diokno said these factors, however, are seen to be countered by the decline of power rates in areas being serviced by the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) as well as the strengthening of the peso, which currently is trading at the 49-level to a US dollar.
“Going forward, the BSP will continue to monitor economic and financial developments to ensure that monetary policy settings remain consistent with the objective of price stability conducive to a balanced and sustained growth of the economy,” he added.
Domestic inflation rate posted an uptick last June to 2.5 percent from month-ago’s 2.1 percent, bringing the average in the first half of the year to 2.5 percent.
This uptick is the first since the start of the year when the inflation rate stood at 2.9 percent.
Monetary officials remain confident that inflation for this and next year will remain within the government’s 2-4 percent target band.
They forecast the inflation rate to average at 2.3 percent and 2.6 percent for this and next year. (PNA)
