“The inflation in October 2019 slowed down to 0.8 percent, which is the slowest in three years, ” the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) revealed.
The inflation in October is within the projection range of the analysts which is from 0.5-1.3 percent.
“The resulting year-to-date average inflation rate of 2.6 percent remained well within the Government’s target range of 3.0 percent ± 1.0 percentage point for the year,” the report of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) stated.
“The downtrend in the inflation in October 2019 was mainly due to the 0.9 percent annual drop registered in the heavily-weighted food and non-alcoholic beverages index,” PSA said.
The rates of housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels have attributed in easing the inflation.
A slower increment of 2.7% in furnishing, household equipment and routine maintenance of the house was also identified.
Prices in health, and restaurant and miscellaneous goods and services continued to slow down.
Apart from the said commodity groups, food index was also slowing down to 0.3 percent in October 2019.
Moreover,prices of rice, corn, vegetables as well as sugar, jam, honey, chocolate, and confectionery continued to decrease.
The rollbacks in the prices of most domestic petroleum products have also contributed in easing the inflation in October.
“The latest inflation outturn remains consistent with the BSP’s prevailing assessment of a benign inflation outlook, with average inflation still expected to firmly settle within the Government’s target range of 3.0 percent ± 1.0 percentage point for 2019 – 2021,” BSP report mentioned.
In NCR, inflation recorded at 1.3 percent in the month of October, which is higher than September 2019 with 0.9 percent rate.
On the other hand, inflation on the areas outside NCR obtained a declined rate of 0.7 percent in October 2019. It is lower than September’s inflation rate which is 0.9.
Among the regions in the country, Region III (Central Luzon) recorded the highest inflation of 2.3 percent while Region IX (Zamboanga Peninsula) attained the lowest inflation rate (-1.3%).
Sources:
Summary Inflation Report Consumer Price Index (2012=100): October 2019
Inflation Eases to 0.8 Percent in October 2019