PH Inflation is Now Down to 6.1% on May

A report by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Tuesday, June 6, 2023, said that the overall inflation in the Philippines has slowed to 6.1% compared to 6.6% on April 2023.

According to the report, this is the fourth consecutive month the overall inflation has slowed down but is still higher compared to May last year.

“This is the fourth consecutive month of deceleration in the headline inflation in the country. Despite the decline, the inflation rate in May 2022 was still lower at 5.4 percent,” PSA said in a report.

PSA also revealed that the year-to-date average inflation rate from January 2023 to May 2023 is 7.5%.

The downward trend of inflation in the country was heavily contributed by the decline in prices of gasoline, diesel, and vehicle fare this year.

“Among the 13 commodity groups, the downtrend of the headline inflation in May 2023 was primarily brought about by the annual decline in the index of transport at -0.5 percent from 2.6 percent annual increase in the previous month,” PSA said.

The food and non-alcoholic beverage sector also helped decrease the inflation in the country with 7.4% from 7.9% last April 2023.

“The third main source of deceleration for the May 2023 inflation was restaurants and accommodation services, which registered slower inflation at 8.3 percent from 8.6 percent in the previous month,” PSA said.

Meanwhile, the alcoholic beverages and tobacco index also declined by 12.3% in May.

However, higher inflation rates were observed for furnishings, household equipment, and routine household maintenance, and are now up at 6.2% in May 2023 compared to 6.1% in April 2023. While recreation, sport, and culture sector also increased and is now at 4.9% in May from 4.7% in April.

Food inflation also slowed down on May 2023 and is now at 7.5% from 8.0% in April of the same year.

However, this is still higher than the food inflation rate compared to May 2022 at 5.2%.

The lower food inflation rate on May 2023 was caused by the lower prices of food commodities.

“The slower food inflation during the month was primarily influenced by the lower annual growth in fish and other seafood at 5.0% from 7.0% in April 2023. This was followed by meat and other parts of slaughtered land animals with an inflation rate of 3.2% in May 2023 from 4.2% in the previous month. The third primary driver of slower food inflation was milk, other dairy products, and eggs, which recorded a lower inflation rate of 12.1% in May 2023 from 13.0% in the previous month,” (ASC)