THE OVERALL year-on-year increase in prices of widely used goods rose to its fastest pace in 32 months in August, the Philippine Statistics Authority reported earlier this morning.
Preliminary data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed headline inflation at 4.9% in August, picking up from 4% in July.
The August inflation result marked the fastest pace in 32 months or since the 5.1% reading in December 2018.
The latest headline figure is higher than the 4.4% median in a BusinessWorld poll conducted late last week, but falls within the 4.1-4.9% estimate given by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) for August.
Year to date, inflation averaged 4.4%, still above the BSP’s 2-4% target this year and the 4.1% forecast for the entire year.
Core inflation, which discounted volatile prices of food and fuel, stood at 3.3% percent in August — faster than the previous month’s 2.9% and 3.1% a year earlier. It averaged 3.3% so far this year.
“The uptrend in the country’s inflation was mainly brought about by the higher annual increment in the index of the heavily-weighted food and non-alcoholic beverages at 6.5% during the month, from 4.9% in July 2021,” the PSA said in a statement.
“Moreover, recreation and culture index went up by 0.5% in August 2021, after recording annual decreases since August 2020,” it added.
The food-alone index likewise accelerated to 6.9% in August, from 5.1% in July 2021 and 1.7% last year. This marked food’s fastest year-on-year increase since the 7% in February.
The PSA also noted faster annual rates in the following indices: alcoholic beverages and tobacco (10.3% in August from 10.2% in July); transport (7.2% from 7%); restaurant and miscellaneous goods and services (3.8% from 3.6%); housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (3.1% from 2.6%); furnishing, household equipment and routine household maintenance (2.5% from 2.3%); and clothing and footwear (1.8% from 1.7%).
Similarly, the August inflation rate for the bottom 30% of households further picked up to 5.2% from 4.4% in July and 2.7% in August 2020. The inflation rate for this segment was the fastest in five months or since the 5.5% in March.
From January to August, the bottom 30% inflation averaged 4.9%. – Lourdes O. Pilar