BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno
MANILA –The rate of price increases in the Philippines posted an uptick in October 2020 to 2.5 percent from the previous month’s 2.3 percent, but Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Benjamin Diokno said this is within their expectations.
In a Viber message to journalists Thursday, Diokno said they forecast inflation last October to range between 1.9 to 2.7 percent.
“(Thus, the October print) is consistent with the BSP’s prevailing assessment of favorable inflation dynamics over the policy horizon,” he said.
In a report, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) attributed the faster inflation rate last October to upticks in the heavily-weighted food and non-alcoholic beverages index, as well as the education and the restaurant and miscellaneous goods and services indexes.
In the first 10 months this year, inflation averaged at 2.5 percent, at the lower half of the government’s 2 to 4-percent target band for 2020 to 2022.
Monetary officials forecast inflation to stay within target until 2022 primarily due to the impact of the pandemic, which affected economic activities and weaker domestic output.
Diokno said the policy-making “Monetary Board will consider the latest inflation number together with the 2020 third-quarter GDP (gross domestic product) data in its assessment of the outlook for inflation and economic activity for the monetary policy meeting on 19 November 2020.”
“The BSP stands ready to deploy all available measures in its toolkit in fulfillment of its mandate as it continues to assess the impact of the global health crisis on the domestic economy,” he added.
To date, the MB has slashed the central bank’s key policy rates by a total of 175 basis points to help buoy the domestic economy from the impact of the pandemic. (PNA)
