Inflation slows down to 4.4% in June

By: Paolo G. Montecillo - 10 years ago

MANILA, Philippines—Consumer prices rose at a slower-than-expected pace in June, although issues that may affect the supply of key commodities and push prices up remained, officials reported on Friday.

The Philippine Statistics Authority said inflation for June slowed to 4.4 percent from last May’s 30-month high of 4.5 percent. All analysts polled by the Inquirer this week said inflation likely accelerated in June.

Last month’s inflation rate was near the top end of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ target of 3 to 5 percent.

Faster growth in food prices pushed up the rate to the higher end of the target, the National Economic Development Authority said.

“One of the main reasons for the high price of food is the rather sharp increases in rice prices in June 2014 as supply tightness persisted in the market,” Neda Director General and Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said.

As the central bank tightened its monetary policies in an effort to constrain bank lending, which curbs demand and drives prices down, Neda said it was working with other agencies to come up with administrative measures to manage inflation.

“In the short term, the interventions can focus on ensuring supply adequacy by allowing sufficient levels of imports to augment local production of rice and other key commodities,” Balisacan said.

“The truck ban policy (in Manila) also needs to be reviewed, along with other measures needed to improve the efficiency of distribution systems,” he added.