Philippine inflation eases to 2.2 pct in April

Source: Xinhua | 2020-05-05

The Philippines' headline inflation further slowed down to 2.2 percent in April 2020, from 2.5 percent in March 2020, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said on Tuesday.

"This brings the year-to-date inflation for this year to 2.6 percent. In April 2019, inflation was higher at 3.0 percent," the PSA said in a statement.

According to the PSA, contributing to the downtrend in the headline inflation in April 2020 was the further decrease in the annual rate of transport index at 6.1 percent.

"This was the lowest inflation recorded in this group's index since October 2015," the PSA added.

April is the first full month that the Philippines imposed the strict quarantine measures in the plenty of provinces and cities since mid-March to stem the spread of the Coronavirus. Under strict quarantine, public transportation is suspended.

In addition, the PSA said slower annual mark-ups were seen in the indices of commodity groups such as alcoholic beverages and tobacco, at 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.

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.