MANILA, Philippines—The central bank expects the country’s inflation rate to have inched up further in January due to higher fuel and meat prices, aggravated by higher power rates and an increase in taxes for alcoholic beverages and cigarettes.
In a mobile phone message to reporters, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Benjamin Diokno said the monetary regulator is projecting the consumer price index for January to be at or around 3.7 percent.
The agency’s economists are also expecting inflation rate for the month to come in between 3.3 percent and 4.1 percent.
Either projection is higher than the December 2020 inflation rate of 3.5 percent…
Keep on reading: BSP sees fuel, meat prices pushing inflation uptick in January