Lower prices of food, electricity, and cooking gas helped further slow down headline inflation in April to 6.6 percent, extending a deceleration that started after hitting 8.7 percent in January, the Philippine Statistics Authority said Friday.
As measured by the consumer price index, inflation was at 7.6 percent in March and at 4.9 percent in April last year. The CPI movement in April brought year-to-date average inflation to 7.9 percent.
Core inflation, which excludes selected food and energy items and is closely-watched by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas for monetary policy setting, slowed down to 7.9 percent in April 2023 from 8.0 percent in March 2023.
The average core inflation for the January-April period stood at 7.8 percent, way above the 2 percent to 4 percent target average of the central bank. The BSP has raised interest rates several times to help tame inflation
Inflation for the bottom 30 percent of the population also decelerated in April to 7.4 percent from 8.8 percent in March but still higher than the 5.0 percent posted in April last year.
National Statistician Dennis Mapa said the PSA is closely-watching the impact of the expected El Nino episode on food prices, particularly rice, which account for a third of the consumer basket and more than half of the basket for those in the bottom 30 percent. He noted that prices of rice has started to creep up starting February, and at more pronounced pace in areas outside Metro Manila.
Mapa said that in 2018, when there was a last El Nino episode, rice inflation soared above 12%. He noted, however, that the passage of the rice tarrification law has tempered movement in rice prices.
