MANILA, Philippines - Mixed movements among major commodity groups caused inflation to stay flat at 4.9 percent in August, the Philippine Statistical Authority announced on Friday.
"The indices for food and non-alcoholic beverages; clothing and footwear; housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels; furnishing, household equipment and routine maintenance of the house; and health posted higher annual rates while slowdowns were observed in transport and restaurant and miscellaneous goods and services indices. Those for the rest of the commodity groups remained at their previous month’s rates," the state agency said.
The prices of goods and services in August brings the year-to-date inflation to 4.4 percent, well within the Development Budget Coordination Committee’s 3 to 5 percent inflation target for the year. Inflation a year ago was at 2.1 percent.
Annual inflation in the National Capital Region jumped to 4.4 percent from the previous month's 3.9 percent. Outside NCR, on the other hand, inflation dropped to 5 percent from June's 5.1 percent.