MANILA – Headline inflation remained steady at 3.4 percent in April – with higher food inflation counterbalanced by lower inflation rate of non-food items – and was within the BSP’s forecast range of 3.0-3.8 percent for the month, the central bank reported Friday.
The resulting year-to-date inflation rate of 3.2 percent is also in line with the Government’s target range of 3.0 percent ± 1.0 percentage point for 2017.
Meanwhile, core inflation, which excludes certain volatile food and energy items to measure underlying price pressures, rose to 3.0 percent in April from 2.9 percent in the previous month. By contrast, month-on-month seasonally-adjusted headline inflation eased to 0.1 percent in April from 0.4 percent in March.
April inflation was unchanged from the previous month as higher food inflation was counterbalanced by the lower inflation rate of non-food items. The increase in food inflation was due mainly to higher prices of some food items including fish, which partly reflected the Lenten season demand.
Meanwhile, non-food inflation went down during the month as higher inflation in communication and transport services were more than offset by the generally lower inflation readings of most major non-food commodity groups.
Governor Amando M. Tetangco, Jr. noted that the latest inflation outturn confirms the BSP’s assessment of a manageable inflation outlook over the policy horizon. Moving forward, the BSP said it will remain watchful of emerging risks to future inflation brought by possible shifts in both external and domestic fronts, in line with the BSP’s commitment to ensure price stability conducive to a balanced and sustainable economic growth
