XINHUA – The Philippines’ headline inflation eased to 3.3 per cent in August from 4.4 per cent in July, mainly due to slower increases in food and beverages, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said yesterday.
“The downtrend in the overall inflation in August 2024 was primarily brought about by the slower annual increment of food and beverages at 3.9 per cent in August 2024 from 6.4 per cent in the previous month,” PSA chief Dennis Mapa told a news conference.
Mapa said that transport also contributed to the downtrend, with an annual drop of 0.2 per cent during the month from a 3.6-per-cent annual increase in July.
The decline in the August inflation rate brings the national average inflation from January to August 2024 to 3.6 per cent. In August 2023, the inflation rate was higher at 5.3 per cent.
Mapa said the core inflation, which excludes selected food and energy items, slowed down to 2.6 per cent in August from 2.9 per cent in July. In August last year, core inflation was higher at 6.1 per cent.
