(Eagle News)-The country’s inflation rate increased further at 2.5 percent in December 2019, the Philippine Statistics Authority said.
According to the PSA, the increase from the 1.3 percent recorded in November 2019 was due to the 1.7 percent annual increments recorded in the heavily-weighted food and non-alcoholic beverages index.
The PSA said in November 2019, the food and non-alcoholic beverages index registered an annual rate of zero percent.
The PSA also noted that the annual change in the transport index picked up by 2.2 percent during the month, from a 2.4 percent annual decline in November 2019.
“Moreover, higher annual increases were noticed in the indices of alcoholic beverages and tobacco at 18.4 percent; housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels, 1.9 percent; and furnishing, household equipment and routine maintenance of the house, 3.1 percent,” the PSA said.
The PSA said a slower annual mark-up of 2.9 percent during the month was noted in the health index.
The rest of the commodity groups retained their previous month’s annual rates, the PSA said.
