January inflation at 4.4% from 5.1% in December

February 5, 2019

January inflation moved at a slower pace of 4.4 percent, down from 5.1 percent in December, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said Tuesday

On a year-ago basis, it was 3.4 percent in January 2017.

The decline in inflation ''was primarily due to the slowdown in the annual increment of the index for the heavily-weighted food and non-alcoholic beverages at 5.6 percent, from 6.7 percent in December 2018,'' the PSA said in a statement.

Lower annual increases in the indices of the following commodity groups also contributed to the downtrend: alcoholic beverages and tobacco, 16.1 percent; clothing and footwear, 2.5 percent; housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels, 4 percent; health, 4.3 percent; and transport, 2.5 percent. DMS