(Eagle News) — Headline inflation decelerated to 2.3 percent in September, the Philippine Statistics Authority said on Tuesday, Oct. 6.
Inflation is defined as the general increase in the prices of goods and services over a period of time.
According to the PSA, this was slower than the 2.4 percent recorded in August, but faster than the 0.9 percent recorded in September last year.
With the development, the PSA said the year-to-date inflation for September 2020 remains at 2.5 percent.
According to the PSA, the downtrend in the overall inflation last month was mainly caused by the slowdown in the inflation for heavily-weighted food and non-alcoholic beverages—now at an annual rate of 1.5 percent during the month, from 1.8 percent in the previous month.
Slower inflation was also recorded for the following:
- Alcoholic beverages and tobacco at 12.9 percent
- clothing and footwear at 1.8 percent
- Furnishing, household equipment and routine maintenance of the house at 3.7 percent.
“Moreover, the annual rate in the index of recreation and culture dropped further to -0.5 percent during the month,” the PSA said.
Annual increases, on the other hand, were noted in the following:
housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels at 1.2 percent
transport at 8.3 percent
Communication at 0.4 percent
Education at 0.9 percent
“The rest of the commodity groups retained their previous month’s annual growth rates,” the PSA said.