The country’s inflation rate eased to 6.1 percent in May, the lowest year-on-year figure recorded since July 2022, according to a report released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
Headline inflation continued to slow down for the fourth consecutive month, bringing the year-to-date average to 7.5 percent.
The May inflation rate is within the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’s forecast range of 5.8 to 6.6 percent.
“We are confident that we can achieve the government’s inflation target this year as we work closely with concerned government agencies in monitoring the primary drivers of inflation,” National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said.
“This development marks the government’s sustained progress in its fight against inflation. We are on track to manage inflation to within target range sometime in the fourth quarter of this year, if not earlier, and near the midpoint of the two to four percent target by next year,” Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno, for his part, said.
NEDA said that the steady slowdown in inflation is attributed to slower food and transportation inflation.
“It is encouraging to see that inflation has gone down in all regions. The government is committed to identifying bottlenecks in the country’s supply chain and improving the distribution of commodities down to the localities,” Diokno said.
“As the risks to the inflation outlook lean towards the upside due to potential increases in transport fares, wage adjustments, higher electricity rates, and domestic prices of key food items resulting from the impact of El Niño, the government is working to implement the necessary interventions as we aim to keep prices low and stable for Filipino consumers,” Balisacan said.
For short-term measures, the NEDA chief said that there is a need to fill local supply gaps through timely importation, ensure sufficient rice buffers during El Niño, and strengthen biosecurity.