MANILA, Philippines — The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) projects that the country's inflation rate for May 2024 will fall within the range of 3.7% to 4.5%.
In a press release on Friday, the central bank attributed the possible inflation uptick to continued increase in electricity rates and vegetable prices, alongside recent peso depreciation.
The BSP also pointed out that lower prices of rice, fish, and fruits and decrease in domestic oil and LPG prices may offset the upward price pressures for the month.
On May 14, Meralco announced an increase in power rates in May due to the increase in generation charge brought by higher costs from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market and Power Supply Agreements.
Meanwhile, oil prices have been in a rollback for the first two weeks of May. In the third week, however, only gasoline slashed prices.
The central bank’s low-end prediction of the inflation rate for May is slightly lower than the 3.8% inflation rate recorded in April 2024
On the other hand, the high-end prediction represents a more significant increase from last month’s inflation numbers.
To mitigate the upward trend in the country's inflation, the BSP's Monetary Board opted to maintain its target reverse repurchase rate at 6.5% during its meeting on May 16.
The decision marks the fifth time the rate has remained unchanged since the off-cycle policy meeting in October 2023.