MANILA, Philippines — Higher prices of housing, energy and transport costs pushed inflation higher in December, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Tuesday.
Consumer price growth rose to 2.9 percent last month, higher than the 2.5 percent recorded in November but markedly lower than December 2023’s 3.9 percent. This still fell within the 2.0 to 4.0 percent target of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
It is, however, higher than the 2.6 percent forecast of The Manila Times poll of economists but within the central bank’s 2.3- to 3.1-percent estimate for the month.
Despite the increase, the average inflation rate hit the midpoint target of the central bank at 3.2 percent in 2024.
“The uptrend in the overall inflation in December 2024 was primarily influenced by the faster annual increment in the index of housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels at 2.9 percent during the month from 1.9 percent in the previous month,” the PSA said in a statement.
“The annual increase of transport at 0.9 percent during the month from an annual decline of 1.2 percent in November 2024 also contributed to the uptrend,” it added.
Food inflation, meanwhile, remained at 3.5 percent, sharing 41.9 percent or 1.2 percentage points to the overall inflation in December 2024.
Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy items, slightly rose to 2.8 percent from 2.5 percent but markedly lower than the 4.4 percent in the same month last year.
Year to date, core inflation was recorded at 3.0 percent.
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