By Brian Jules Campued
The headline inflation in the Philippines is expected to settle within the range of 3.5% to 4.3% for April, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) announced Tuesday.
In its month-ahead inflation forecast for April, the BSP said the continued increases in food prices, particularly rice and meat, will contribute to the upward inflation pressures for the month.
Notably, higher gasoline prices and peso depreciation were also attributed to the possible uptick in inflation.
On the other hand, the Central Bank added that lower food prices, particularly fish, fruits, and vegetables, as well as lower electricity rates and the price cut of liquefied petroleum gas may “offset the upside price pressures”.
To recall, oil companies have implemented consecutive price hikes on fuel during the first three weeks of April. Price rollbacks were then issued over the past two weeks.
“Going forward, the BSP will continue to monitor developments affecting the outlook for inflation and growth in line with its data-dependent approach to monetary policy decision-making,” the Central Bank said in a statement.
In March, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported that the headline inflation quickened to 3.7% from 3.4% in February.
The PSA noted that faster inflation in March was influenced by higher year-on-year increases in food and non-alcoholic beverage prices – with rice inflation rising to 24.4%, the highest since the 24.6% recorded in February 2009.
Meanwhile, inflation for March was projected to settle within the range of 3.4% to 4.2%. – avds
