MANILA, Oct 8 (PNA) — Headline inflation in September 2014 has eased to 4.4 percent after two consecutive months of hitting the fastest inflation rate for this year at 4.9 percent in July and August.
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) explained in its September 2014 inflation report released Wednesday that the downtrend in consumer prices in the previous month was brought by slower annual growth in the heavily-weighted food and non-alcoholic beverages index as well as declining price indices of housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, and transport.
The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) also mentioned that food prices in September only grew by 7.4 percent from 8.3 percent in August because of slow inflation in prices of rice at 10.7 percent from 13.2 percent, corn at 8.3 percent from 9.1 percent, and vegetables at 9.8 percent from 15 percent.
On the other note, NEDA said Dubai crude oil’s international price also declined, pulling local prices of petroleum in September.
“This was much lower when compared to the almost 12 percent annual increase reported in the previous month. Generation and transmission charges declined, with the improved availability of generation plants in operation and with less forced outages,” NEDA Deputy Director General Emmanuel F. Esguerra said.
Meanwhile, core inflation — excluding selected food and energy items — remained at 3.4 percent which is the same level in August.
In Metro Manila, inflation rate also slowed down to 3.5 percent in September 2014 from August 2014 rate of 4.4 percent.
Inflation also improved in areas outside National Capital Region (NCR) with consumer price index of 4.7 percent in September this year from 5.0 percent at end-August.
Meanwhile, from January to September, headline inflation nationwide was at 4.4 percent while core inflation rate registered at 3.1 percent.
The inflation rate in the first ninth months of the year remained within the Development Budget Coordination Committee’s target of 3.0 to 5.0 percent for 2014.
“Nothwithstanding upward pressures on prices, the general market inflation expectations remain well-anchored, as policies remain supportive of manageable inflation rate,” Esguerra said. (PNA)