THE country’s inflation rate has further eased to 6.6 percent in April 2023 from 7.6 percent in March this year, according to National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary Arsenio Balisacan.
In his report to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Balisacan said the 6.6 percent inflation rate was recorded last month as both food and non-food inflation continued to moderate, but emphasized that it is still higher than the 4.9 inflation rate in April last year.
“Core inflation marginally decelerated to 7.9 percent from 8.0 percent last month,” Balisacan said in a six-page report to the Chief Executive.
Balisacan added that food inflation declined to 8.0 percent in April 2023 from 9.5 percent in March 2023 amid slower inflation of vegetables from 20 percent to 10 percent; fish from 9.9 percent to 7.0 percent; and eggs and other dairy products from 13.6 percent to 13 percent.
Inflation of meat has also declined from 4.6 percent to 4.2 percent and sugar from 35.2 percent to 33.7 percent.
Vegetable inflation also decelerated due to the lower inflation of onions from 72.8 percent to 60.3 percent; cabbages from 29.2 percent to 9 percent; and tomatoes from -16.3 percent to -46.8 percent.
Balisacan noted that meat inflation moderated in April this year as chicken and beef recorded lower inflation of 7.7 percent from 10.3 percent, and 6.1 percent from 6.5 percent, respectively, while pork continued to record a deflation from -1.3 percent to -0.3 percent.
He said inflation of bread and other cereals remained stable at 11.7 percent.
He also emphasized that non-food inflation also decelerated to 5.5 percent in April 2023 from 6.3 percent in March “mainly due to slower electricity inflation and a further deflation in private transport.”
Balisacan attributed the deflation in private transport to the continued decline of prices of diesel from -6.0 percent to -20.0 percent; gasoline from -7.4 percent to -11.0 percent; and LPG from -5.0 percent to -18.3 percent.
“Global oil prices dropped as growth concerns, stemming from China’s lower manufacturing activity and expectations of another US Fed hike, offset the recent OPEC+ production cut,” Balisacan noted.
Similarly, he said, passenger transport services decreased from 13.8 percent to 13.3 percent as inflation of air transport decreased from 35.6 percent to 32.9 percent while water transport prices stalled from 24.7 percent to zero percent.
“Inflation of accommodation and food services increased (8.6% from 8.3%) owing to stronger demand amid higher tourist arrivals,” he added.
Balisacan said that restaurant services are the top contributor to the April inflation followed by housing rentals, passenger transport and electricity; while key agricultural commodities including fish, vegetables, meat, eggs, and other dairy products contributed a total of 1.3 percentage point.
Processed food commodities such as sugar and bread and other cereals contributed a total of 0.7 percentage point to total inflation while the month-on-month seasonally adjusted inflation remained at zero in April as food and housing and utilities recorded deflation.
Inflation rate in the National Capital Region (NCR) slowed to 7.1 percent in April 2023 from the 7.8 percent in March 2023 as inflation in areas outside of NCR fell to 6.5 percent from 7.5 percent last month.
