The Philippines’ headline inflation in December 2024 increased to 2.9% from 2.5% in November 2024, the Philippine Statistics Authority’s (PSA) Consumer Price Index indicated.
Although the inflation rate had a slight increase in December last year, the PSA noted that the percentage recorded last December 2023 was higher, at 3.9%.
According to the PSA’s Consumer Price Index released on Tuesday, January 7, the uptrend in the country’s overall inflation was primarily influenced by the faster annual increment of the following for the month of December 2024:
- Housing
- Water
- Electricity
- Gas and other fuels
Additionally, the annual increase in transport at 0.9% in the same month, also contributed to the uptrend. Recreation, sport, and culture were also among the factors that contributed to the uptrends. The PSA said that it recorded a faster annual increase of 2.5% in December 2024, from 2.4% in the previous month.
However, some commodity groups registered lower inflation rates in December last year. The groups that registered lower inflation rates are:
- Clothing and footwear (2.4% from 2.6%)\
- Health (2.5% from 2.6%)
- Restaurants and accommodation services (3.8% from 3.9%)
The remaining commodity groups under the same clasp retained their respective month’s inflation rates.
Meanwhile, the top three commodity groups that contributed to the country’s overall inflation were the following:
- Food and non-alcoholic beverages with 44.3% share or 1.3 percentage points
- Housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels with 21.4% share or 0.6 percentage point
- Restaurants and accommodation services with 12.6% share or 0.4 percentage point
The Philippines’ annual average inflation rate for 2024 stood at 3.2%, indicating a lower average inflation rate of 6.0% compared to 2023.
Moreover, food inflation at the national level remained at 3.5% in December 2024, a lower rate compared to last year. While the annual food inflation rate in 2024 was observed at 4.5%.
