Inflation falls to 7-month low

Overall inflation eased to a seven-month low in August due mainly to the slower increase in food prices, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority PSA).

- LOUELLA DESIDERIO

National Statistician Dennis Mapa said in a press conference yesterday that headline inflation, or the rate of increase in average prices of consumer goods and services, slowed to 3.3 percent in August this year from 4.4 percent in July and 5.3 percent in August 2023.

This is the slowest since the 2.8 percent inflation print in January this year.

The August inflation is also within the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ forecast range of 3.2 to four percent for the month and falls back to the three to four percent target band for the year.

Driving the downward trend in inflation was the slower annual increment of food and non-alcoholic beverages at 3.9 percent in August from the previous month’s 6.4 percent.

Food inflation eased to 4.2 percent in August from 6.7 percent in July.

The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) attributed the lower food inflation largely to the significant slowdown in rice inflation, which decreased to 14.7 percent in August from 20.9 percent in July.

Mapa said this was the slowest inflation for rice since the 13.2 percent in October last year.

He said the slower rice inflation in August was in line with expectations, citing base effects and the impact of the lower tariffs on rice imports.