Inflation slows down to 2.8% in November

MANILA, Philippines -  Sufficient agriculture and fish supply and lower domestic petroleum prices caused inflation to settle at an eight-month low in November, the National Statistics Office reported on Wednesday.

The country's headline inflation rate hit 2.8 percent year-on-year, lower than the 3.1 percent posted in October.

“The average inflation from January to November 2012 remains within the Development Budget Coordination Committee’s target range of 3 to 5 percent for 2012,” Rolando Tungpalan, officer-in-charge of the National Economic and Development Authority said. 

Inflation rate is the growth in the prices of  goods and services commonly purchased by households.

Tungpalan said the slow rise of prices was seen in major food items that included fish fish (5.9 percent in November from 6 percent in October), milk, cheese, and eggs (3.3 percent from 3.4 percent), and fruits (4.9 percent from 5.2 percent). 

"This was also coupled with the decline in prices of vegetables (-5.3 percent from -0.1 percent), and oils and fats (-4.9 percent from -4.5 percent)," he added.

Tungpalan said that slower price movements in electricity, gas and other fuels were also seen in November (3.1 percent from 4.9 percent) due to lower prices of kerosene and diesel along with a contraction in the Manila Electric Company's generation charge.

Year-on-year, inflation in the National Capital Region decelerated at 2.6 percent from the previous month's 2.9 percent, while inflation in areas outside NCR eased to 2.9 percent from October's 3.3 percent.

Core inflation, on the other hand, likewise slowed down to 3.4 percent from the 3.6 percent recorded in October. It was 4.5 percent a year ago.

“The lower core inflation implies an easing of demand pressures on consumer prices. With the continued benign price increases for the period, we are expecting that inflation should be manageable for the rest of the year,” Tungpalan said.