Inflation eases in June

MANILA, Philippines — Inflation in the country eased for the fifth straight month in June largely due to slower increases in food prices, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said. In a press conference yesterday, PSA chief Dennis Mapa said headline inflation – the rate of increase in prices of goods and services – continued to move at a slower pace of 5.4 percent last month, from 6.1 percent the prior month and in June last year.

He said this is the lowest inflation print since 4.9 percent in April last year.

The June inflation rate is also within the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ 5.3 to 6.1 percent forecast for the month.

Mapa said the slowdown in inflation was mainly due to the prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages, which had a lower inflation rate of 6.7 percent in June from 7.4 percent in May.

He said meat, fruits and nuts, and sugar, confectionery and desserts contributed largely to the slower inflation in food and non-alcoholic beverages.

Also driving the downtrend in overall inflation was the faster decline in transport costs to -3.1 percent in June from -0.5 percent in May.

The housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels commodity group was likewise cited as another source of deceleration in inflation as the index registered a lower inflation rate of 5.6 percent in June from 6.5 percent in May.

Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and fuel items, also eased to 7.4 percent in June from 7.7 percent in May.

Average inflation for the January to June period was at 7.2 percent, still above the BSP’s two to four percent target range.

National Economic and Development Authority Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said the latest data shows progress in managing inflation.

“We can expect that it will decline to within two to four percent by the end of the year,” he said.

Mapa said the trend in overall inflation is going down, but there are still risks, including rice, with prices of the food staple slowly increasing.

He said rice inflation rose to 3.6 percent in June from 2.2 percent in February.

In June alone, he said increases were seen across the three rice categories tracked by the PSA such as regular milled, special and well-milled rice.

For regular milled rice, he said the average price rose from P40.60 per kilo in April to P40.90 per kilo in May, and went up further to P41.20 per kilo in June.