Philippine inflation rate eases to 2.4 percent in January

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) - Philippine inflation rate further eased to 2.4 percent in January from 2.7 percent in December last year, which is the lowest since inflation settled at 2.1 percent in August 2013, the Philippine Statistics Authority said today.

According to the data released by the state agency, without food and oil prices, core inflation dropped to 2.2 percent in January from 2.3 percent in last December.

"January inflation at 2.4 percent is largely due to slowdown in annual movements of utilities, gas and transport. It falls within our forecast range and bolsters our view of within-target inflation over our policy horizon," Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas ( BSP) Governor Amando M. Tetangco, Jr. said in a text message.

The central bank has forecast the January print to fall within 1.8 to 2.7 percent. For the full year, the BSP keeps a 2-4 percent target for inflation.

"We will continue to monitor developments particularly in international oil prices and their impact on financial market volatilities and inflation expectations to see if there is need to make adjustments to our policy levers," Tetangco said.

The BSP kept key policy rates steady in December as inflation expectations remained within the target ranges until 2016.

Earlier in 2014, the overnight borrowing and overnight lending rates were hiked by a total of 50 basis points to anchor inflation.