The lower costs of food and fuel products have caused a slowdown in the November inflation rate at 6.0 percent which is slower compared with the nearly 10-year highs of 6.7 percent in the previous month.
Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that the slower rate is still higher than the 3.0 percent registered in the same month in 2017. It is however lower than market expectations of around 6.2 percent to 6.3 percent, and within the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) forecast of 5.8 to 6.6 percent. While the rest of the commodity groups exhibited higher annual mark-ups, the indices of food and non-alcoholic beverages were at 8.0 percent; housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, 4.2 percent; communication, 0.4 percent; education index continued to post an annual rate of -3.8 percent, while transport index retained its previous month’s annual rate of 8.9 percent.
