Philippine inflation rose to 5.3% in August

MANILA  -Headline inflation revved up to 5.3 percent in August, after waning throughout the previous six months, bringing the average since January to 6.6 percent, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority.

The result for August is closer to the upper end of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ expected range of 4.8 percent to 5.6 percent.

National Statistician Dennis Mapa said the latest monthly readout was primarily influenced by the higher year-on-year increase in the heavily-weighted food and non-alcoholic beverages — 8.1 percent from 6.3 percent in July.

Particularly contributing to higher inflation were faster increases in the prices of cereals and cereal products, vegetables and tubers, and fish and other seafoods.

Also, the cost of transportation services grew by 0.2 percent in August after decreasing by 4.7 percent in July.