In July, inflation slowed down for the sixth consecutive month, registering its lowest rate at 4.7 percent since March 2022, according to the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA).
“While we continue to experience a downtrend in inflation, we need to be vigilant, especially as we face increasingly volatile weather disturbances as well as external headwinds such as oil price increases and trade restrictions on food,” Economic and Development Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said.
Balisacan said that based on the Philippine Statistics Authority monitoring, inflation moderated further in the previous month, dropping from 5.4 percent in June 2023.
Balisacan said that the deceleration was due to slower food and non-food inflation.
Balisacan assured the public that the government is continuing to monitoring the supply and demand situation of key commodities to achieve its inflation target of 2 to 4 percent by the end of the year.
Balisacan said that food inflation decelerated to 6.3 percent in July 2023 from 6.7 percent in June, as inflation rates of the following food items slowed down: fish and other seafood (4.5 percent from 6.2 percent), eggs & dairy products (9.7 percent from 11.2 percent), bread & other cereals (10.1 percent from 11.0 percent), and sugar (21.4 percent from 28.9 percent).
However, non-food inflation had eased to 3.3 percent in July 2023 from 4.1 percent in June 2023.
Balisacan said that inflation of electricity, gas, and other fuels slowed from 5.2 percent to 2.5 percent, while inflation for passenger transport services declined from 11.2 percent to 7.2 percent.
He said that non-food items, including food services, housing rentals, and passenger transport, remain the top contributors to inflation, contributing a total of 1.8 percentage points.
“The government will implement necessary measures to prevent price spikes, protect the purchasing power of Filipino families, and sustain our economic recovery and momentum,” Balisacan said.
On the other hand, agricultural commodities such as vegetables, rice, fish, and dairy products contributed a total of 1.5 percentage points, Balisacan said.
Balisacan said that the government has taken steps to deploy its resources to affected areas of the El Niño as well as prepare its policy and on-the-ground response as it expects more typhoons and weather disturbances from the El Niño.
