MANILA — The Department of Finance (DOF) expects inflation for the month of April at 4.5 percent, with “sin products” contributing substantially to the upward price pressure.
In its latest economic bulletin, the inflation forecast for April 2018 is higher than the rate registered in last year at 3.2 percent and at 4.3 percent in March this year.
Price pressure on food and non-alcoholic beverages is projected to settle at 5.8 percent, while non-food items at 2.9 percent.
Increase in prices of sin products such as alcoholic beverages and tobacco is expected to settle at 24.1 percent in April 2018.
“Sin products continue to drive inflationary pressure. Of the 4.5 percent forecast inflation rate for April, sin products account as much as 0.5 percentage point, much higher than their contribution of only 0.16 percentage point in the same month last year,” the DOF said.
On the other hand, price movements appeared to be normalizing with the month-on-month inflation rate declining from 0.52 percent in March to 0.49 percent in April.
The Philippine Statistics Authority will be releasing the official data this week. (PNA)
