The Philippines’ headline or overall inflation slowed down to 2.1% in February 2025, from a 2.9% rate in January 2025, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said.
The PSA’s Consumer Price Index for February 2025, indicated that the national average inflation from January to February 2025 was 2.5%. The agency said the rate decreased compared to the inflation rate in February 2024, which was 3.4%.
The downtrend in the overall inflation for February was influenced by the slower annual increment of food and non-alcoholic beverages at 2.6%, the PSA said. Moreover, housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels also posted a slower annual increase of 1.6% in February, from 2.2.% in January. Additionally, transport also recorded an annual decline of 0.2% in February.
The PSA noted the following commodity groups that recorded lower annual increments:
- Alcoholic beverages and tobacco (3.4% from 3.5%)
- Clothing and footwear (2.1% from 2.3%)
- Furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance (2.3% from 2.65)
- Health (2.3% from 2.5%)
- Restaurants and accommodation services (2.8% from 3.2%)
- Personal care and miscellaneous goods and services (2.6% from 2.8%)
Meanwhile, the PSA observed a higher annual increase in information and communication at 0.3% in February 2025 from 0.2% in January.
Food Inflation
Food inflation eased to 2.6% in February 2025 from 4.0% in the previous month.
According to PSA, in February 2024, the food inflation posed at 4.8%.
The declaration of food inflation for February was influenced by the slower inflation rate of vegetables, tubers plantains, cooking bananas, and pulses at 7.1%. This was followed by the rapid year-on-year decline of rice to 4.9% in February from 2.3% in January 2025.
Meanwhile, lower inflation rates for February 2025 were noted in the following food items:
- Corn (0.75 from 3.6%)
- Flour, bread and other bakery products, pasta products, and other cereals (1.4% from 1.7%)
- Fish and other seafood (2.9% from 3.3%)
- Ready-made food and other food products not elsewhere classified (3.7.5 from 4.0%)
In contrast, higher annual growth rates for February were observed in the following food groups:
- Meat and other parts of slaughtered land animals (8.8% from 6.4%)
- Milk, other dairy products and eggs (2.7% from 2.4%)
- Oils and fats (3.5% from 2.2%)
- Fruits and nuts (6.9% from 6.5%)
Additionally, a slower annual decrease was also noted in the sugar, confectionery and desserts index at 1.2% in February. In the previous month, the rate was posted at 2.3%.
