Central bank expects PH inflation to rise further

The country may see more “blips” in consumer prices in the coming months amid supply bottlenecks caused by the congestion of Manila’s ports, among others, the central bank said.

Consumer prices are still expected to rise within target levels, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said, adding that most issues are expected to be temporary. This comes amid the prospect of conditions at Manila’s ports normalizing as early as October.

“There are delays so there’s temporary tightness in supply. If there’s tightness, there’s some effect on prices, but it’s hard to quantify to what extent,” BSP Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. told reporters on Monday.

Late last week, Tetangco called on administration officials to address issues such as the Manila truck bank, as well as the current rice supply shortfall to mitigate price increases.  Officials were also urged to more closely monitor consumer prices to avoid speculative trading.

Inflation in July accelerated to 4.9 percent or its highest level in 33 months as food prices rose due to poor harvests.