MANILA, Philippines — The slowdown in the annual increments of food and non-alcoholic beverages, alcoholic beverages and tobacco, and transport contributed to the easing of the country's headline inflation in January.
The Philippines' annual headline inflation continued to move slower at 4.4 percent at the start of the year, the lowest since last April, the Philippine Statistics Authority announced Tuesday.
Six of eleven major commodity groups posted slower annual increases last month, including food and non-alcoholic beverages.
"For food and non-alcoholic beverages, food items like rice, meat, fish, milk, cheese and eggs, and vegetables contributed to the deceleration in inflation in January 2019," the PSA said.
Tobacco also registered a slowdown in its annual rate with 21.3 percent in January.
Petroleum and fuels for personal transport equipment, domestic air fare and ferry or ship fare were also factors to the cooling down of inflation.
Meanwhile, four major commodity groups retained their annual rates from December — communication, recreation and culture, education and restaurant and miscellaneous goods and services.
In the National Capital Region, year-on-year inflation also slowed down to 4.6 percent in January. Areas outside the metro also posted a 4.4-percent inflation.
The highest annual mark-up was observed in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao at 6.1 percent, while the lowest was recorded in the Cordillera Administrative Region at 3.1 percent.
The PSA noted the the continuing month-on-month growth in the country could be attributed to non-food commodities, particularly housing, water, electricity, gas and other fules, furnishing, household equipment and routine maintenance of the house and restaurant and miscellaneous services.
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