The country's inflation rate has accelerated to 8.1 percent in December 2022, the highest inflation recorded since November 2008, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Thursday.
In its latest data, PSA said the December 2022 inflation slightly increased from the 8.0 percent recorded in November 2022.
The average inflation for 2022 stood at 5.8 percent.
According to PSA, the uptrend in the December 2022 national inflation was mainly attributed to food and non-alcoholic beverages with a 10 percent inflation rate and 38.9 percent share in the uptrend.
It added that vegetables, tubers, rice, fruits, and nuts were the major drivers in the spike in inflation in food and non-alcoholic beverages.
The restaurants and accommodation services also contributed to the December 2022 inflation with a 7.0 percent inflation rate from 6.5 percent in November 2022.
This was followed by the commodity group of housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels with an inflation rate of 7.0 percent also.
Meanwhile, the inflation in the National Capital Region (NCR) slightly accelerated to 7.6 percent in December from 7.5 in November 2022.
The inflation in the Areas Outside National Capital Region (AONCR), on the other hand, rose to 8.2 percent in December 2022 from 8.0 in November 2022.
Eleven regions in the AONCR posted high inflation rates above the national inflation rate of 8.1 percent. Among these regions are Region VI - Western Visayas with 10.5 percent.
The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) remained as the region with the lowest inflation at 6.3 percent.
