MANILA (Updated 9:28 a.m.)— Philippine inflation accelerated to a fresh 14-year high in January, the statistics agency said on Tuesday, keeping the pressure on the central bank to tighten monetary policy.
The consumer price index (CPI) rose 8.7% in January, way above the 7.7% forecast in a Reuters poll and topping the 8.1% rate in December.
Core inflation, which strips out volatile food and fuel items, increased to 7.4% from December’s 6.9%.
The Philippine central bank, which had forecast January CPI to be between 7.5%-8.3%, said on Saturday it will focus on inflation rather than the Federal Reserve’s 25-basis point hike when it meets on Feb. 16 to review key interest rates
Its governor has previously signaled further interest rates hikes at the central bank’s first two policy meetings this year to bring inflation back within a target range of 2% to 4%.
—Reporting by Neil Jerome Morales and Enrico dela Cruz; Writing by Karen Lema; Editing by Ed Davies
