Inflation eases to 5.9% in Q4 2018

Prices of goods and services increased at a slower pace of 5.9 percent during the fourth quarter of 2018, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said Friday, citing a quarterly comparative view to inflation.

The inflation print in October to December is slower than the 6.2-percent average posted in the third quarter of the year, BSP Director Dennis Lapid said during the 4th Quarter 2018 Inflation Report briefing in Manila.

Average inflation settled above the 2018 inflation target range, but it eased during the fourth quarter of 2018.

“Year-on-year headline inflation moderated to an average of 5.9 percent in Q4 2018 from the quarter-ago average of 6.2 percent. This brought the full-year average inflation rate to 5.2 percent, which is above the National Government’s (NG) target range of 3.0 percent ± 1.0 percentage point for the year,” the central bank said in a separate statement.

“Headline inflation slowed in Q4 on easing inflation for both food and non-food items,” Lapid said.

As a result, the full-year average for 2018 settled at 5.2 percent.

“The lower inflation was triggered by the decline in international crude prices, globalization of food supply, and stabilization of exchange rate,” said BSP Assistant Governor Francisco Dakila Jr. siad during the same briefing.

Food inflation moderated during the review quarter as supply conditions improved for key food items, while non-food inflation also eased … as lower international oil prices exerted downward pressure on transport inflation through lower gasoline and diesel prices.

“By contrast, core inflation rose to 4.9 percent in Q4 2018, higher than the rates posted in the previous quarter and a year earlier. Similarly, the BSP’s three alternative measures for core inflation were higher during the quarter,” the central bank noted.

“There are now more factors that contribute to possible lowering of the inflation,” Dakila noted. —VDS, GMA News