Expensive food, especially pork and vegetables, lifted headline inflation to a two-year high of 4.2 percent year-on-year in January, making it harder to enjoin more consumer spending amid a prolonged recession.
Not only was the rate of increase in prices of basic commodities the highest since January 2019’s 4.4 percent, but it was also above the government’s target range of 2 to 4 percent—considered manageable inflation—for 2021.
Prices last month further rose by a faster 0.9 percent from levels in December, when month-on-month inflation inched up 0.8 percent amid the Christmas holidays.
The impact of high prices was worse for poor households as inflation for the bottom 30-p…
Keep on reading: January inflation surges to 2-year high