Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — On Tuesday (October 6), the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) revealed that headline inflation — the overall price increase of goods and services — slowed down to an annualized 0.4 percent in September from 0.6 percent the previous month.
September marked the fifth consecutive month for inflation to drop to a two-decade low. The figure was within the lower half of the BSP’s 0.2 to 1.0 percent forecast range for the month.
Related: Inflation slows again, reaches new 20-year low
Similarly, core inflation also eased to 1.4 percent during the month from August’s 1.6 percent. The metric excludes selected food and energy prices because of their volatility.
The BSP mainly attributed September’s slower increase to lower prices of certain food and non-food items. It said that prices of non-food items in September deflated year-on-year, as prices of electricity, gas, and other fuels decreased further due to lower generation charges for household electricity rates.
Likewise, food inflation decelerated as price increases for rice, corn, oils, and fats continued to decline relative to year-ago levels. Other key food items such as fish, fruits, milk, cheese, and eggs registered lower inflation rates.
September’s rate brought year-to-date inflation to 1.6 percent, below the government’s 2 percent to 4 percent target range.
