PRICES of consumer goods and services in the Philippines continued its acceleration streak for the fourth straight month in May, amid faster increase in utility and transportation costs during the period, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported yesterday.
National Statistician and PSA chief Claire Dennis Mapa said inflation — the rate of increase in the prices of goods and services — rose to 3.9% in May, a slight increment from the 3.8% rate in April.
This was the fastest inflation reading so far this year and also the fastest in six months when the inflation rate clocked in at 4.1% in November 2023.
May’s print is slower compared to the 6.1% rate recorded in May 2023.
Last month’s inflation print brought the year-to-date inflation rate to 3.5%, still within the government’s target band of 2% to 4%. It also fell within the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) projection range of 3.7% to 4.5%
The BSP, in a separate statement, said it expects average inflation to return to the target range for full year 2024 and 2025.
“Ang pangunahing dahilan ng mas mataas na antas ng inflation nitong Mayo 2024 kaysa noong Abril 2024 ay ang mas mabilis na pagtaas ng presyo ng Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels sa antas na 0.9%. Ito ay may 56.8% share sa pagtaas ng pangkalahatang inflation sa bansa,” Mapa said.
In particular, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) prices saw an uptick to 9.% from 8.3% month-on-month while electricity saw a decrease to -8.5% from -11% in April.
The second commodity group that contributed to the faster May inflation print was Transport with a 3.5% rate from 2.6% month-on-month, and a share of 43.2% in the overall inflation acceleration during the month.
Also adding pressure to the Transport index was the increase in passenger transport by sea to 1.5% from -23.3%.
Food inflation, which tracks the movement of food items in a “basket” commonly purchased by households, slowed down to 6.1% in May from 6.3% in April.
The slower food inflation in last month was mainly brought about by the slower year-on-year increase in vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas and pulses index at 2.7% from 4.3% in the previous month.
This was followed by rice which slowed to 23% from 23.9% in April.
Fish and other seafood also contributed to the downtrend with 0% inflation rate in May from 0.4% in the prior month.
Higher growth rates, however, were seen in the meat prices at 1.6% from 1% month-on-month; while ready-made foods and other food products rose to5.3% from 4.8% in April. (GMA Integrated News)
