MANILA, Philippines, June 8 ------ The country's inflation rate rose to 3.9% in May 2024 due to increased transportation and electricity costs, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
During a press briefing, national statistician and PSA chief Claire Dennis Mapa said the inflation accelerated to 3.9% in May 2024, up from 3.8% in April 2024. The rate is significantly lower than the 6.1% inflation recorded in May 2023. This month's inflation also falls within the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas' forecast range of 3.7% to 4.5%.
Mapa attributed the uptick to a faster rise in the prices of housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, which increased by 0.9% in May from 0.4% in April 2024. The category accounted for 56.8% of the inflation increase. According to Mapa, the spike in inflation for housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels is due to the slower decline in electricity prices and the faster increase in liquefied petroleum gas prices. Transportation costs also contributed to the upward trend of inflation, rising to 3.5% in May 2024 from 2.6% in April. Mapa linked this to a 1.5% rise in passenger transport by sea and higher prices for gasoline and diesel.
Meanwhile, food inflation went down by 6.1%, coming from the 6.3% inflation during the previous month. According to Mapa, the slowdown was due to a reduced year-on-year increase in the index for vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas and pulses, which dropped to 2.7% in May from 4.3% in April. Fish and seafood inflation was flat at 0%, down from 0.4% in April.
Rice inflation also eased, dropping to 23% from 23.9% the previous month. Core inflation, on the other hand, slowed to 3.1% in May 2024, down from 3.2% in April and significantly lower than the 7.7% recorded in May 2023.
Source: philstar.com
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