MANILA, Philippines — Power, fuel, water, and key food price increases pushed inflation higher in July, breaching the 2.0- to 4.0-percent target, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Monday.
Consumer price growth hit 4.4 percent last month, higher than the 3.7-percent recorded in the previous month but slightly lower than the 4.7-percent in the same month last year.
Rates snapped the seven consecutive months of staying within the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) target.
It is, however, well within the 4.0- to 4.8-percent estimate of the central for the month but higher than the 4.1-percent median in a Manila Times poll of economists.
“The uptrend in the overall inflation in July 2024 was primarily influenced by the higher year-on-year increase in the index of housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels at 2.3 percent during the month from 0.1 percent in June 2024,” the PSA said in a statement.
Faster increases of heavily-weighted food and non-alcoholic beverages also contributed to the higher inflation rate in July, which rose to 6.4 percent from 6.1 percent in the previous month.
Food and alcoholic beverages still accounted for over half — 55.5 percent share or 2.4 percentage points — of overall inflation.
Food inflation, meanwhile, rose to 6.7 percent in July from the previous month’s 6.5 percent.
Rice inflation—which contributed to the uptick in inflation for the previous months—declined further to 20.9 percent last month from 22.5 percent in June.
Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy items, further slowed to 2.9 percent from 3.1 percent in the previous month and 6.7 percent in the same month last year.
Year to date, headline inflation and core inflation were recorded at 3.7 percent and 3.3 percent, respectively. Both are still within the central bank’s target range for the year.
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