The Philippines' inflation rate for October has seen a slowdown following two consecutive months of acceleration, the Philippine Statistics Agency (PSA) reported on Tuesday, November 7.
In a press briefing, National Statistician and PSA chief Dennis Mapa said the latest inflation rate is at 4.9%, decelerating from the 6.1% recorded in September. It was also lower than the 7.7% rate seen in the same month last year.
Mapa said the key reason behind the lower inflation rate of last month is the slower increase in the prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages.
October inflation brought the year-to-date average inflation to 6.4%, still outside the central bank’s 2%-4% target for the year.
According to REUTERS, the slower inflation in October could ease pressure on the central bank to increase interest rates further after it delivered an off-cycle hike of 25 basis points on October 26, on worries that inflation could spiral out of hand.
Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno said on Monday he would vote to keep the benchmark interest rate steady at 6.5%.
