Oct inflation for poor households falls to 0.8%

INFLATION for low-income households eased to a four-year low of 0.8 percent in October on the back of lower fuel and utility prices, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) announced on Thursday.

The figure is lower than the 0.9 percent posted in September, and the lowest since October 2015’s 0.4 percent.

Year to date, consumer price growth for this income group averaged 3.5 percent.
“An annual decline of 0.7 percent was recorded in the index of fuel, light and water,” the PSA explained.

Annual increases were recorded in the indices of food, beverages and tobacco at 0.6 percent; and services, 2.8 percent.

The indices of clothing, housing and repairs, and miscellaneous retained their previous month’s annual rates, according to the statistics agency.

The annual rate of the heavily-weighted food index at the national level, meanwhile fell further by 0.6 percent in October.

The PSA said the annual rate of rice index decelerated by 7.3 percent in October, while the corn index still registered an annual drop of 0.5 percent during the month.

Slower annual mark-ups were also observed in cereal preparations, dairy products, fish, meat and miscellaneous food.

Annual upticks were higher in the indices of eggs at 5.2 percent; and fruits and vegetables, 2.9 percent.

In the National Capital Region, inflation for these households hit 0.2 percent in October. In the previous month, annual rate in the area declined by 0.6 percent, but in October 2018, it was higher at 6.9 percent.

Outside Metro Manila, inflation for such households eased to 0.8 percent last month from 0.9 percent in September and 9.5 percent in October 2018.

This comes a few weeks after the agency reported that the country’s headline inflation slowed to 0.8 percent in October from September’s 0.9 percent.