MANILA –
Inflation continued its downward trend for the third consecutive month in
August, based on the data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA)
on Thursday.
During a PSA media briefing on Thursday, it said that the rate was the lowest
since the 1.8 percent tallied in October 2016 and was also way lower than the
6.4 percent in the same period last year.
The PSA added that the rate was also almost half of the 2.4 percent inflation
tallied in July 2019 as it brings the year-to-date inflation for this year to
3.0 percent.
Among the 11 major commodity groups, the top contributor to the overall
inflation was restaurant and miscellaneous goods and services, which recorded
an annual rate of 3.2 percent. The share of this commodity group to the overall
inflation was 24.5 percent.
The second commodity group that largely contributed to the overall inflation
was housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels, which posted 1.8 percent
inflation and a share of 24.1 percent to the overall inflation.
The third major contributor to the overall inflation was food and non-alcoholic
beverages which had 0.6 percent inflation and 14.0 percent share to the overall
inflation in August 2019.
The PSA further said that the slowdown of inflation last month was mainly due
to the slower annual increase in the index of the heavily-weighted food and
non-alcoholic beverages at 0.6 percent.
Also contributing to the downtrend were the slower annual increments in the
indices of four other commodity groups in August 2019, as well as the transport
index, which dropped by 0.2 percent.
“The sources of downward trend of August 2019 inflation were recreation and
culture; food and non-alcoholic beverages; and transport,” the PSA said in its
media release.
Meanwhile, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said in a statement that the
August inflation was within the forecast range of 1.3 to 2.1 percent and is
driven primarily by the lower prices of rice, electricity and fuel prices.
“The latest inflation outturn is consistent with the BSP’s prevailing
assessment that inflation will continue to decelerate in Q3 2019 and pick up
slightly in Q4 2019,” the BSP said.
The BSP added that it will continue to expect average inflation to firmly
settle within its target range of 3.0 percent to positive or negative 1.0
percentage point from 2019 to 2021.
Ample domestic food supply conditions along with lower global oil prices have
contributed to a manageable inflation environment, while the deepening trade
tension between China and the US along with the ongoing geopolitics risks have
raised global economic uncertainty which poses a downside risk to the inflation
outlook.
“The BSP will continue to keep a close watch over latest economic developments
here and abroad to ensure that the monetary policy stance remains consistent
with the BSP’s price stability objective while being supportive of economic
growth,” the BSP said./PN
