Inflation rate in the Philippines eased to a 20-month low of 4.1 percent in November from 4.9 percent in October on slower increases in the prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said Tuesday.
PSA data showed this was the slowest since inflation settled at 4 percent in March 2022.
National statistician and civil registrar general Dennis Mapa said the November inflation was also slower compared to 8 percent in November 2022.
“This brought the average inflation from January to November 2023 to 6.2 percent,” Mapa said.
“The downtrend in the overall inflation in November 2023 was primarily brought about by the lower year-on-year growth rate of the heavily-weighted food and non-alcoholic beverages at 5.7 percent in November 2023 from 7.0 percent in October 2023,” Mapa said.
This was followed by transport with 0.8 percent annual decrease from 1.0 percent annual growth in October 2023. The restaurants and accommodation services index with a slower inflation rate of 5.6 percent in November 2023 from 6.3 percent in the previous month also contributed to the downtrend of the overall inflation.
The average inflation in the first 11 months remained above the government’s target range of 2 percent to 4 percent for the entire year.