Inflation slows in October

MANILA, Philippines — For the first time in three months, inflation eased in October mainly on slower increase in food prices, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

National Statistician Dennis Mapa said at a briefing yesterday that headline inflation rate, or the rate of increase in average prices of goods and services typically bought by consumers, settled at 4.9 percent in October from 6.1 percent in September.

The October inflation reading was also lower than the 7.7 percent in the same month last year.

The latest inflation result was below the 5.1 to 5.9 percent forecast of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) for October.

In the January to October period, inflation averaged 6.4 percent, still above the BSP’s two to four percent target range.

Driving the downtrend in the headline or overall inflation rate was the heavily weighted food and non-alcoholic beverages, which registered an inflation rate of seven percent in October from 9.7 percent the previous month.

Inflation for food alone slowed down to 7.1 percent in October from 10 percent in September. Rice inflation slowed to 13.2 percent in October from 17.9 percent in September.

“Rice inflation slowed down following the onset of peak harvest and import arrivals. The stable supply of vegetables as harvest season comes likewise resulted in a slower inflation rate of the commodity,” National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said.

Last month, the government lifted the price caps on regular milled and well-milled rice, put in place in September to address rising prices of the staple.

Other food groups that registered lower inflation rates in October from September were vegetables (11.9 percent from 29.6 percent), fish (5.6 percent from 6.1 percent), bread and other cereals (7.4 percent from 8.1 percent), sugar (4.9 percent from nine percent) and meat (0.8 percent from 1.3 percent).

Mapa said the slower inflation rate in October may have been due to base effect, as inflation was on an uptrend last year.

Core inflation, which strips off selected food and energy items, decelerated further to 5.3 percent in October from the previous month’s 5.9 percent.

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