Inflation Picks Up in June

Inflation picked up in June, breaking a four-month downtrend, due largely to faster increases in utility costs, the Philippine Statistics Authority said.

- Louella Desiderio and Keisha Ta-asan

In a press conference, National Statistician Dennis Mapa said that headline inflation or the change in prices of goods and services rose slightly to 1.4 percent in June from 1.3 percent in May.

While it accelerated from the previous month, the June inflation print is lower than the 3.7 percent reading in the same month last year.

The latest inflation result is within the 1.1 to 1.9 percent forecast of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) for June.

Average inflation in the first semester stood at 1.8 percent, below the government's two to four percent target for the year.

Mapa attributed the higher inflation in June to the quicker uptick in utility costs.

In particular, the housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels commodity group registered a faster inflation of 3.2 percent in June from 2.3 percent in May.

The slower decline in transport inflation at 1.6 percent in June from a 2.4-percent dip in the previous month also contributed to higher overall inflation.

On the other hand, food inflation eased to 0.1 percent in June from 0.7 percent in the previous month.

Rice inflation likewise declined at a faster rate in June, falling by 14.3 percent compared to the 12.8 percent dip in May.

"This is the biggest drop in terms of year-on-year inflation for rice," Mapa said.

Vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas and pulses also contributed to the lower food inflation as the commodity group posted a 2.8-percent drop in June from the previous month's 3.4 percent increase.