Inflation Increases to 14-Year High 8.0% in November

The inflation rate in the country surged to a 14-year high in November, bringing consumer goods prices up once again, according to data provided by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) Tuesday.

PSA reported that the country’s inflation rate increased to 8 percent in November, which is the highest inflation rate the country has seen since November 2009 when the inflation surged to 9.1 percent.

November 2022’s inflation rate surpassed that of October of the same year which was recorded at 7.7 percent.

Moreover, the recorded inflation rate for November was within the forecast range of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), which was pegged between 7.4 percent to 8.2 percent.

This brings the year-to-date average inflation rate of the Philippines to 5.6 percent.

According to the PSA, the surge in inflation was in part due to food and non-alcoholic beverage index growth rate.

“The sustained acceleration of inflation in November 2022 was mainly due to the higher year-on-year growth rate in the index of food and non-alcoholic beverages,” the PSA reported.

This is seen in the prices of essential commodities such as vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas, and pulses surged by over 25 percent, which is the highest surge in their prices since January 1999.

Meanwhile, the PSA along with the Department of Finance said that high inflation rate will be felt until the year ends, due to the number of typhoons that ravaged the country since October coupled with the further weakening of the peso against the United States Dollar. (GFB)