THE country’s headline inflation has further accelerated to 3.9 percent in May 2024, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said Wednesday, June 5, 2024.
The PSA said the three main contributors in May’s headline inflation were food and non-alcoholic beverages with 56.6 percent share or 2.2 percentage points, restaurants and accommodation services with 13.2 percent share or 0.5 percentage point, and transportation with 8.2 percent share or 0.3 percentage point.
The inflation is the rate of increase in prices over a given period of time.
“The uptrend in the overall inflation in May 2024 was primarily influenced by the higher year-on-year increase in the index of the housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels at 0.9 percent during the month from 0.4 percent in April 2024,” the PSA said.
“The faster annual growth of the transport index at 3.5 percent in May 2024 from 2.6 percent in April 2024 also contributed to the uptrend of the overall inflation,” it added.
May 2024’s 3.9 percent inflation from 3.8 percent during the previous month has brought the national average inflation from January to May 2024 to 3.5 percent, still within the government’s target range of 2.0 percent to 4.0 percent.
In May 2023, inflation rate was higher at 6.1 percent.
The agency, however, said the following commodity groups registered lower inflation rates during the month:
* Food and non-alcoholic beverages, 5.8 percent from 6.0 percent;
* Alcoholic beverages and tobacco, 4.2 percent from 4.9 percent;
* Clothing and footwear, 3.4 percent from 3.6 percent;
* Health, 2.9 percent from 3.0 percent;
* Recreation, sport and culture, 3.5 percent from 3.8 percent;
* Restaurants and accommodation services, 5.3 percent from 5.4 percent;
* Personal care, and miscellaneous goods and services, 3.4 percent from 3.5 percent
The PSA said the food inflation also slowed down to 6.1 percent from 6.3 percent last month due to the slower year-on-year increase in vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas and pulses index at 2.7 percent from 4.3 percent.
Slower annual increases were also recorded on rice from 23.9 percent in April 2024 to 23.0 percent during the month, as well as fish and other seafood with zero percent inflation rate from 0.4 percent in April 2024.
The indices of flour, bread and other bakery products, pasta products, and other cereals; milk, other dairy products and eggs; and fruits and nuts also had slower annual rates during the month while higher annual growth rates were observed in the indices of meat and other parts of slaughtered land animals at 1.6 percent and ready-made food and other food products not elsewhere classified at 5.3 percent.
“In addition, a 6.5 percent year-on-year increase was noted in the index of corn in May 2024 from a 0.6 percent annual decline in the previous month,” the PSA said.
“Moreover, the oils and fats index recorded a slower annual decrease of 3.6 percent during the month from a 4.4 percent annual decline in April 2024. The index of sugar, confectionery and desserts retained its previous month’s annual decrease of 2.8 percent,” it added. (TPM/SunStar Philippines)