The Philippines’ headline inflation further decelerated in June, registering its lowest rate in 15 months.
In a briefing on Wednesday, National Statistician Dennis Mapa said headline inflation further slowed to 5.4 percent in June from 6.1 percent in May, the lowest rate recorded since 4.9 percent in April 2022.
In June last year, inflation settled at 6.1 percent.
Core inflation, which excludes volatile oil and food items, also went down to 7.4 percent from May’s 7.7 percent.
Meanwhile, year-to-date headline inflation settled at 7.2 percent.
Mapa said the downtrend in inflation was due to the slower annual increase in heavily-weighted food and non-alcoholic beverages at 6.7 percent in June from 7.4 percent in May.
“The main contributor to the slower inflation of food and non-alcoholic beverages is the slower increase in the prices of meat and other parts of slaughtered land animals like chicken, fruits, and nuts, such as mango, and sugar, confectionery, and desserts,” he said.
The faster annual decrease in transport at -3.1 percent during the month from -0.5 percent in May 2023 also contributed to the downtrend of overall inflation.
Mapa said housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels were the third main source of deceleration of the headline inflation in June 2023 with a 5.6 percent annual growth rate from 6.5 percent in May 2023.
Inflation in the National Capital Region (NCR), meanwhile, also slowed to 5.6 percent from 6.5 percent in May.
In areas outside the NCR, inflation likewise eased to 5.3 percent from 6 percent in the previous month.
For the bottom 30 percent of households, inflation also decelerated to 6.1 percent in June from 6.7 percent in May.
