THE Philippines’ inflation rate continued its downward trend for the third consecutive month, reaching 1.4% in April, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Tuesday. This marks the slowest inflation rate since November 2019 (1.2%).
PSA chief Claire Dennis Mapa attributed the deceleration to slower price increases in Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages (0.9%, down from 2.2% in March), which accounted for 82.3% of the overall inflation decrease. The decline was largely due to a stronger contraction in cereal prices, particularly rice (-7.4%, compared to -5.2% in March).
Further contributing to the lower inflation was a faster contraction in the Transport index (-2.1%, compared to -1.1% month-on-month), accounting for 15.2% of the decrease. This was driven by sharper declines in gasoline (-12.4%, down from -7.5%) and diesel (-8.3%, down from -5%) prices.
The year-to-date inflation rate stands at 2%, well within the government’s target range of 2% to 4% for 2025.
