October inflation hits 42-month low

Retail prices of rice declined year-on-year for the sixth straight month in October, pulling down inflation to a 42-month low of 0.8 percent, the government reported Tuesday.

While the nationwide headline inflation rate was the lowest since April 2016’s 0.7 percent, National Statistician Claire Dennis S. Mapa told a press conference that the rate of increase in the prices of basic commodities in the National Capital Region (NCR) rose to 1.3 percent year-on-year last month from 0.9 percent in September. This, he said, was due to “higher annual increment in food and non-alcoholic beverages,” especially chicken due mainly to the African swine fever (ASF) scare.

Chicken and beef prices were on the rise in the NCR and Region 3 as more consumers shifted to buying these meat products instead of pork, whose prices, as a result, were going down, Mapa said.

In areas outside the NCR, Region 3 posted the highest inflation last month at 2.3 percent year-on-year.

“Although the government welcomes the easing of inflation, the country must be in the lookout for upside risks such as the ASF, which has so far been observed in Rizal, Pangasinan, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Cavite and Quezon City,” National Economic and Development Auhthority (Neda) Undersecretary and officer in charge Adoracion M. Navarro said in a statement.

“The livestock industry in the said ASF-stricken areas, which accounts for 21.7 percent of the country’s total hog production last year, remains at high risk. The government and private companies must collaborate to manage, contain and control the spread of the disease,” Navarro said.

At the national level, the average consumer prices inched up 0.2 percent in October from September levels mainly as prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages rose month-on-month.

In the case of rice, Mapa said the Filipino food staple posted its sixth consecutive month of decline, with a 9.7- percent year-on-year drop recorded in October, the biggest decline since 1995.

The economic team had been attributing the declining rice prices to the liberalization of rice importation under the Rice Tariffication Law.

To recall, rice prices jumped 10.7 percent in October last year due to supply bottlenecks.

Prices of corn and vegetables in October were also lower from year-ago levels by 3.9 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively.

Sugar, jam, honey and confectionery prices dropped 4.3 percent, while transport costs fell by 1.7 percent last month.

At the end of the first 10 months, headline inflation averaged 2.6 percent, within the government’s 2-4 percent target range for 2019.

The inflation rate in October last year nearly hit a 10-year high of 6.7 percent, hence a high base that translated into last month’s minimal year-on-year increment.

In the meantime, Malacañang has credited the easing of the inflation to President Duterte’s strong political will and the government’s “sound and working economic policies.”

“This should be good news to all Filipinos, especially the President’s doubters unless they see it otherwise, which would reveal that what they are solely interested in is for the administration to fail,” presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said. —WITH A REPORT FROM JULIE M. AURELIO