By: BusinessWorld
The overall increase in prices of widely used goods could have clocked in at its slowest clip in at least three years last month, as a decline in rice prices and electricity rates was partly offset by higher prices of fuel at the pump and other food items, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said.
The BSP Department of Economic Research projects September 2019 inflation to settle within the 0.6-1.4% range.
Further the BSP says that the continued decline in rice prices and the downward adjustment in electricity rates could be offset by the recent uptick in fuel prices as well as higher prices of selected food items due to weather disturbances during the month.
The estimate range for September inflation — which the Philippine Statistics Authority will report on Oct. 4 — compares to August’s 1.7% and the year-ago 6.7% which was a nine-year high that was sustained in October.
The central bank’s range, if realized, would mark September as the fourth straight month of inflation slowdown.
Inflation averaged three percent in the eight months to August, against the central bank’s downward-adjusted 2.5% forecast average for the entire 2019.
Read the full article HERE.
