Inflation for poorest households rises in May

MANILA, Philippines — Growth in consumer prices for the bottom 30 percent of households in the country went faster in May as prices of food, housing and utilities registered an uptick in areas outside Metro Manila, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported yesterday.

Inflation for the income subgroup accelerated to 4.6 percent in May after six consecutive months of deceleration. In April, the rate was registered at 4.3 percent.

This tracks the sudden uptick in the national headline inflation at 3.2 percent in May from three percent in April.

Contributing to the uptrend were the higher annual rates observed in the indexes of food, beverages and tobacco (FBT), clothing, 3.2 percent; and miscellaneous goods and services.

The food index alone rose sharply by 4.3 percent during the month compared with the 3.9 percent growth rate in April 2019.

On the other hand, the indexes of housing and repairs (H&R); and fuel, light and water (FLW) also recorded an increase although at a slower pace.

Growth in the services index, meanwhile, was flat in May.

The growth in the headline rate for inflation for the country’s poorest households was evident in areas outside Metro Manila.

Growth in consumer prices for the poorest households in the National Capital Region was flat at 2.6 percent in May versus April.

In Areas Outside NCR (AONCR), however, inflation accelerated to 4.6 percent in May from 3.3 percent in April because of sharp increases in the prices of food, beverages and tobacco as well as housing and utilities.

The food index in AONCR alone accelerated to 4.4 percent in May compared with four percent in the previous month. Higher prices were seen for dairy products, fish, fruits and vegetables, and miscellaneous food stuff.

The highest annual inflation of 10.3 percent remained in MIMAROPA Region while the lowest was noted in Eastern Visayas at 2.4 percent.