INFLATION further eased in June, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said yesterday.
The consumer price index rose 5.4 percent last month, which was slower than the 6.1 percent inflation rate reported in May, the PSA said.
This was within the 5.3 to 6.1 percent forecast of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
“This is the fifth consecutive month of deceleration in the headline inflation and the lowest in the past 13 months,” the PSA said.
It was also slower than the 6.1 percent inflation rate recorded in June last year.
However, it was still above the 2 to 4 percent target range of economic managers.
Last month, economic managers revised their inflation forecast for 2023 to between 5 and 6 percent, which was lower than the 5 to 7 percent assumption they gave in April.
According to the PSA, the average inflation rate for the first six months stood at 7.2 percent.
Inflation has been easing since hitting a 14-year high of 8.7 percent in January.
The PSA said this was primarily due to the slower annual increase in the prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages at 6.7 percent in June from 7.4 percent in May.
Transport costs also fell faster at -3.1 percent during the month from -0.5 percent in May 2023.
“Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels was the third main source of deceleration of the headline inflation in June 2023 with 5.6 percent annual growth rate from 6.5 percent in May 2023,” the agency added.
Core inflation, which excludes food and energy costs that tend to rise or fall sharply, also slowed to 7.4 percent in June 2023 from 7.7 percent in May 2023.
Easing inflation has allowed the BSP to pause rate hikes during its last policy-setting meeting.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said the government will continue to work to bring down inflation in the Philippines.
He noted that the easing of inflation is also partly due to government’s effort to make agricultural production more efficient and help farmers use new technology in their work.
National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) secretary Arsenio Balisacan said the government is making progress in managing the rising prices of goods in the country.
“We can expect that it will decline to within 2-4 percent by the end of the year,” he said.
Balisacan also said that the Inter-Agency Committee on Inflation and Market Outlook will continue to take steps to address the root causes of inflation.
For his part, National Statistician Clare Dennis Mapa said that the impact of wage hikes on the Philippine economy remains to be seen after an economist warned that these may drive up inflation.
The BSP said that transport fare hikes, minimum wage adjustments, supply constraints on some food items, and possible knock-on effects of higher toll rates on agricultural products may also push up commodity prices throughout the country.
It added that it remains ready to adjust the monetary policy stance to prevent the further broadening of price pressures. (ABS-CBN News)
