By Joann Villanueva/Philippine News Agency
MANILA — Lower prices of rice and cooking gas are seen to cause the country’s inflation rate to sustain its decline in July 2019, with government economists seeing a figure of between 2-2.8 percent.
In a statement, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said its Department of Economic Research (DER) also considers the recent appreciation of the peso against the greenback and the drop in power rates as big contributors to a generally slower inflation rate in the seventh month this year.
It, however, noted that increase in the price of fuel and food items could counter the effect of the said factors.
“Looking ahead, the BSP will remain watchful of evolving inflationary environment to ensure that the monetary policy stance remains consistent with the BSP’s price stability mandate,” it added.
Inflation went back to its downward path last June when it slowed to 2.7 percent after rising to 3.2 percent in the previous month.
After peaking at 6.7 percent in September and October 2018, inflation posted deceleration until the uptick last May, which monetary officials earlier said was just a blip, which, later on, was confirmed after the June rate declined.
Monetary officials forecast this year’s inflation rate to average at 2.7 percent.
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