The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported that the inflation rate of the country has increased in the month of November.
According to the PSA, the prices of commodities have increased from 2.5% in October to 3.3% in November. The prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages particularly onions and tomatoes have swelled to 14.6% from -0.5% in October.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) stated that the November 2020 inflation of 3.3% was “slightly higher than BSP’s forecast range of 2.4 to 3.2 %, driven mainly by higher food inflation, particularly for vegetables, fish, fruits and meat.”
It added that inflation is “expected to settle within the government’s target range of 3.0% plus or minus 1.0% for 2020-2022 as the impact of supply disruptions due to recent typhoons is expected to be largely transitory”.
The BSP assured that the increase in prices of basic necessities that are part of the “supply disruptions” will not be permanent. – Report from Naomi Tiburcio