Philippine inflation floats to 12.5 pct
5/9/2008 17:27
Consumer prices in the Philippines grew 12.5 percent in August compared
with the same period last year, hitting a 17-year high but already showing signs
of moderation, the government said today.
The headline inflation in July was
already 12.3 percent, the highest since December 1991, and core inflation, which
excluded selected food and energy items, increased to 7.0 percent from 6.3
percent in July, the National Statistics Office announced.
Despite the
continuous rise, the overall month-on-month inflation growth was recorded at a
slower rate of 0.3 percent in August than the 1.6 percent in July. And the
prices of food, beverage and tobacco products have relatively stabilized, the
office said.
At the national level, the annual inflation rate for food alone
decelerated to 18.1 percent in August from 18.6 percent in July, it said. The
massive inflow of rice by the National Food Authority in markets brought down
prices of commercial rice in August. The price of corn also declined by 6.1
percent due to enough supply brought about by the harvest season.
The August
inflation almost topped the high end of the central bank's forecast range of
11.8 to 12.6 percent, raising the possibility of another rate hike before the
year-end.
The Philippines, which buys most of its fuel demands from abroad
and has become the world's largest rice importer, is one of the Southeast Asian
countries worst hit by inflation in 2008. The central bank has twice revised its
inflation projection of the year from an impossible 3-5 percent to currently
9-11 percent.
Last week, the central bank raised key interests rates for the
third time this year, to curb the seemingly runaway inflation. Analysts said as
the pace of annual price increases eased from previous months in August and the
month-on-month inflation rate actually dropped, only one more rates hike can be
expected before the yearend.
Xinhua
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