5-9-2023 (MANILA) In a significant shift, the year-on-year inflation rate in the Philippines broke its downward trend in August, surging to 5.3 percent from 4.7 percent in July, as reported by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Tuesday.
Dennis Mapa, the head of the PSA, revealed, “The uptrend in the overall inflation in August 2023 was driven by a higher year-on-year increase in food and non-alcoholic beverages, which rose to 8.1 percent from 6.3 percent in July.”
Mapa specifically pointed out that rising prices of rice and vegetables played a substantial role in the inflationary pressure. Rice inflation surged to 8.7 percent in August, up from 4.2 percent in July, while vegetable prices skyrocketed by 31.9 percent from 21.8 percent, primarily due to production losses caused by the enhanced monsoon rains and typhoon.
Additionally, Mapa noted that transport inflation increased by 0.2 percent, rebounding from an annual decline of 4.7 percent in July. The recreation, sport, culture index also contributed to the elevated August inflation rate, rising to 4.9 percent from 4.7 percent in July.
The August inflation rate pushed the national average inflation for the period from January to August to 6.6 percent, according to Mapa.
Despite facing ongoing challenges such as severe weather conditions and trade restrictions imposed by other nations, Arsenio Balisacan, Secretary of the National Economic and Development Authority, expressed the government’s commitment to achieving an inflation rate between 2 and 4 percent by the end of the year.
The Asian Development Bank, headquartered in Manila, anticipates that inflation in the Philippines will average 6.2 percent in 2023 before gradually easing to 4 percent in 2024.
