MANILA, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- Year-on-year inflation in the Philippines accelerated to 3.5 percent in December 2020, up from 3.3 percent in November 2020, driven by increases in food and non-alcoholic beverages, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said on Tuesday.

"This is the highest inflation recorded since March 2019," PSA head Dennis Mapa said in a virtual news conference.

"The uptrend in the country's inflation was primarily brought about by the increase in the inflation of heavily-weighted food and non-alcoholic beverages at 4.8 percent during the month, from 4.3 percent in November 2020," Mapa added.

Moreover, he said annual increments were higher in the indices of health, transport, and restaurant and miscellaneous goods and services.

The Philippines' annual average inflation for 2020 was 2.6 percent, slightly higher than the 2.5 percent annual average inflation in 2019, the state statistics bureau said. Enditem

Related

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)