A deceleration in the rate of increase in food prices and year-on-year decline in fuel prices slowed headline inflation further to 4.1 percent in November after slipping to 4.9 percent in October, the Philippine Statistics Authority said Tuesday.
The rate of increase in the consumer price index, the country’s primary measure of inflation, in November was the slowest since March last year, when headline inflation was recorded at 4.0 percent. The slower food inflation was recorded in the face of higher rice, dairy products and eggs prices, especially in areas outside Metro Manila.
Data from the PSA showed that the average price per kilo of regularly milled rice rose to P46.73 in November from P45.42 in October, while well-milled rice sold in November at an average P51.99 per kilo from the October price of P51.00 a kilo.
Economic Planning Undersecretary and National Statistician Dennis Mapa told a news conference said the inflation print in November was a slower than the 8.0 percent posted in the year-earlier month and brought the average rate for the first 11 months of 2023 to 6.2 percent, still above the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ target range of 2.0 percent to 4.0 percent.
Core inflation, which excludes certain food and energy items, also slowed down to 4.7 percent in November from 5.3 percent in October and 6.5 percent in November 2022. The 11-month core inflation average stood at 6.8 percent.
Mapa said the inflation rate for the bottom 30 percent of income households also decelerated to 4.9 percent in November from 5.3 percent in October and from 9.2 percent in November last year. The 11-month average inflation for this income segment was 6.9 percent. He said slower increases in the prices of food, non-alcoholic beverages and transport helped slow down inflation rate for the bottom 30 percent income household.
Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said the government continues to closely watch the market as well as the supply and demand situation to timely interventions could be initiated to prevent price spikes.
“With the right interventions in place, including the proper and timely deployment of trade policy, we are confident that we can effectively manage inflation and prevent unnecessary upticks in prices of goods and commodities to safeguard the purchasing power of Filipino families, especially those from the most vulnerable sectors,” Balisacan said in a statement.
The country’s chief socioeconomic planner added that the government needs to continue monitoring the inflation situation in the face of continued price pressures from geopolitical tensions and extreme weather situations, further fueling uncertainty.
Balisacan said that to ensure sufficient supply and stable price of rice, the Inter-Agency Committee on Inflation and Market Outlook (IAC-IMO) sub-committee on food inflation has proposed to maintain the lower tariff rate on rice, corn and swine meat. At the same time, differentiated support must be provided to agricultural producers, depending on how and when they will be affected by El Niño. Measures to reduce transport and delivery costs are being undertaken as well.
