Inflation quickens to 3.9% in May

Fastest since November 2023

- LOUELLA DESIDERIO and KEISHA TA-ASAN

Inflation hit a six-month high in May, driven by faster upticks in utility and transport costs, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

In a press briefing, National Statistician Dennis Mapa said headline inflation or the rate of increase in average prices of consumer goods and services typically purchased by Filipinos quickened to 3.9 percent in May from 3.8 percent in April.

He said the May inflation print is the “fastest since the November 2023 reading of 4.1 percent.”

Last month’s overall inflation was also within the 3.7 to 4.5 percent forecast of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

Mapa cited the housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels as the primary driver of the upward trend in headline inflation, with the commodity group posting a faster increase of 0.9 percent in May from the previous month’s 0.4 percent.

The transport commodity group was another main driver in the higher overall inflation, with the index rising to 3.5 percent in May from 2.6 percent in April.

Meanwhile, food and nonalcoholic beverages registered a lower inflation of 5.8 percent in May from six percent in the previous month.

Inflation for food alone slowed down to 6.1 percent in May from April’s 6.3 percent, with the downtrend driven mainly by slower increases in prices of vegetables and rice.

Rice inflation, in particular, posted a slower uptick, but remained elevated at 23 percent in May from 23.9 percent in April.

Mapa said prices of all three types of rice being tracked by the PSA declined in May from the previous month with world prices of the grain also going down.

The price of regular milled rice went down to P51.03 per kilo in May from P51.25 per kilo in the previous month, while the price of well-milled rice decreased to P56.06 per kilo last month from P56.42 per kilo in April.