June inflation soars to 5.2 percent

July 5, 2018

Philippine inflation for the month of June soared to a 5.2 percent from 4.6 percent in the previous month, the Philippine Statistics Agency ( PSA) said Thursday.

The high rate was "primarily brought about by higher annual rate posted in the heavily-weighted food and non-alcoholic beverages index at 6.1 percent," the PSA said in its website.

Inflation figures, now at near five-year highs, came a month after the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas raised policy rates for the second month in a row.

Faster annual increments were also registered in the indices of the following commodity groups: alcoholic beverages and tobacco 20.8 percent; housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels, 4.6 percent; transport 7.1 percent.

Excluding selected food and energy items,  core inflation escalated by 4.3 percent in June 2018, faster than the 3.6 percent growth in May 2018 and 2.1 percent in June  2017. DMS