Costlier rice among other food items triggered the uptick in the rate of price increase on goods and services in October, government statisticians said, with the impact of successive storms likely to reflect in inflation numbers in the next month.
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Tuesday, Nov. 5, reported October inflation at 2.3%, higher than the 1.9% in September.
This was within the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) expectations.
“The latest inflation outturn is consistent with the BSP’s assessment that inflation will continue to trend closer to the low end of the target range over the succeeding quarters,” the BSP said. “This reflects easing supply pressure for key food items, particularly rice.”
The average inflation was 3.3% as of October. The government has a target range of 2% to 4%.
Rice was the main inflation driver, the PSA said. While rice inflation was still in the single digit, it rose from 5.7% in September to 9.6% in October.
“‘Yong presyo ng bigas, based on the retail price sa ating mga commodity outlets, bumababa na naman siya, kaso nga lang hindi siya ganun kabilis ang pagbagsak kumpara do’n sa ine-expect natin,” National Statistician Dennis Mapa said.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered a tariff cut in rice imports to 15% from 35% in July in a bid to lower retail prices.
Mapa said the average price per kilogram of regular milled rice was P50.22 in October, well-milled rice at P55.28, and special rice at P63.97.
“Ang expectation natin nag-peak na ito,” he said of the rice prices. “This is just a blip, we expect it will go down again — inflation rate and, of course, the price level per kilo in the coming months, November and December.”
The subgroup of vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas, and pulses also boosted the acceleration of food inflation, recording a -9.2% in October from -15.8% in the previous month.
Eggplants, particularly, were among the top five contributors to the October inflation print. It was 20.1% this month from -5.6% in September.
“So talagang reverse ito, typhoon talaga ito dahil -5.6% [no’ng September] eh and then mababa siya in the previous months talagang tumaas siya ngayon,” Mapa said.
He also mentioned cucumbers with an inflation rate that rose to 26.5% from a contraction in the previous months.
Agricultural damage from Typhoon Kristine has breached P6 billion, the Department of Agriculture reported Monday.
“Itong month ng November, siguro ‘yong first two weeks natin, makikita rin natin pa ‘yong pagtaas ng presyo ng mga vegetables,” the PSA chief said. “Normally nakikita natin ‘yan after the typhoon and then magno-normalize na.”
Finance Secretary Ralph Recto also said government efforts were “expected to keep inflation within our target range for the next two years, at least.”
