By Anna Leah Gonzales | Philippine News Agency
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) expects the May 2024 inflation to settle within the 3.7% to 4.5% range.
“Continued increases in electricity rates and vegetable prices alongside recent peso depreciation are the primary sources of upward price pressures for the month,” the BSP said in a statement on Friday.
The Manila Electric Company earlier announced that power rates in May increased by P0.4621 per kilowatt hour to P11.4139 per kWh from P10.9518 per kWh in the previous month.
The peso, meanwhile, closed at 58.635 to a dollar on Thursday, its weakest performance since the 58.80 finish on Nov. 3, 2022.
The central bank, however, noted that lower prices of rice, fish, and fruits as well as lower domestic oil and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) prices could offset the upside price pressures.
The latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that at the national level, a kilogram of well-milled rice had an average retail price of P56.52 on May 15 to 17, slightly lower than the P56.98/kg recorded in the same period in April.
Oil companies meanwhile slashed the prices of LPG products by more than P1 per kilogram.
“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,” said the BSP.
The PSA is scheduled to release the May 2024 headline inflation data on June 5.
In April this year, headline inflation settled at 3.8%.
