The country's inflation rate rose to 4.4 percent in July 2024, up from 3.7 percent in June, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Tuesday, August 6.
PSA said that the increase was primarily driven by higher costs in housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels, which saw a year-on-year rise to 2.3 percent from 0.1 percent the previous month.
This spike brings the national average inflation from January to July 2024 to 3.7 percent, still within the government’s ceiling of 2% to 4%.
It also aligned with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas' (BSP) forecast range of 4 to 4.8 percent.
July's inflation rate is the fastest in nine months, breaching the central bank’s target range of 2 to 4 percent for the year. However, it remains significantly lower than the 6.8 percent recorded in July 2023.
