MANILA (Updated 9:30 a.m.) — Philippine annual inflation eased for a fifth straight month in June, the statistics agency said on Wednesday, reflecting a slower rise in food and transport costs.
The consumer price index PHCPI=ECI was up 5.4% in June, its slowest pace annually since April, but the rate remained outside the central bank’s 2% to 4% target for the year.
Economists had forecast the CPI to rise 5.5% in June from a year earlier, within the central bank’s 5.3% to 6.1% projection for the month.
Core inflation PHCPXY=ECI, which strips out volatile food and fuel items, slowed to 7.4 from 7.7% in May.
Headline inflation in the first half averaged 7.1%.
—Reporting by Karen Lema and Enrico Dela Cruz; Editing by Martin Petty