(Eagle News)–Inflation further cooled to 2.2 percent in April, bringing the year-to-date inflation for this year to only 2.6 percent.
The Philippine Statistics Authority said the 2.2 percent last month was slower than the 2.5 percent annual increase in March 2020.
Contributing to the downtrend in the headline inflation in April was the further decrease in the annual rate of transport index at 6.1 percent, the PSA said.
The PSA said this was the lowest inflation recorded in the same group’s index since October 2015.
Apart from this, the PSA said slower annual mark-ups were observed in the indices of the following commodity groups:
- Alcoholic beverages and tobacco, 17.9 percent;
- Clothing and footwear, 2.6 percent;
- Housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels, 0.3 percent;
- Health, 2.8 percent;
- Communication, 0.3 percent; and
- Restaurant and miscellaneous goods and services, 2.4 percent. (Tables 3 and 4)
The index of the heavily-weighted food and non-alcoholic beverages, for its part, posted a higher annual increase of 3.4 percent during the month.
“The indices of the rest of the commodity groups such as furnishing, household equipment and routine maintenance of the house, recreation and culture, and education retained their previous month’s annual growth rates,” the PSA said.
