Food, non-alcoholic drinks propel July inflation

Inflation further accelerated to 6.4% in July 2022, higher than the 6.1% June rate due to surging prices of food and other commodities, based on a report by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

Inflation is the general increase of prices of goods and services in an economy over a given period of time. Inflation rate is measured using the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

The CPI measures the overall change in consumer prices based on a representative basket of goods and services over time.

According to PSA, the 6.4% percent inflation in July is the highest recorded inflation since October 2018.

“This is the highest recorded inflation since October 2018. With this month’s inflation, the Philippines’ average inflation from January to July 2022 stood at 4.7 percent. In July 2021, inflation rate was lower at 3.7 percent.”

PSA reported that the upward trend of the July 2022 inflation is attributed to the higher annual growth rate in food and non-alcoholic beverages index which is at 6.9 percent, compared to the 6 percent in June.

Specifically, year-on-year inflation for flour and meat increased further while sugar inflation also went up due to some tightness in supply mainly attributed to reduced domestic sugar output.

Limited supply was also linked to recent weather-related disturbances, which also pushed fish inflation higher.

The transport index fueled faster inflation at 18.1 percent annual growth compared to 17.1 percent in June.

Other factors which contributed to the uptrend are alcohol beverages and tobacco; clothing and footwear; furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance; recreation, sport and culture, restaurants and accommodation services; and personal care, and miscellaneous goods and services.

Notably, annual growth rate in the indices of housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels; and health dropped to 5.7 percent and 2.4 percent, respectively.

Citing the same PSA data, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas noted that year-on-year non-food inflation was steady as lower inflation for health as well as large-weighted housing and utilities (water and electricity, gas, and other fuels) offset the inflation uptick in other non-food subcomponents.

Meanwhile, food inflation at the national level increased further to 7.1 percent in July 2022, from 6.4 percent in June 2022.

In terms of food groups, fish and other seafood recorded an increase in the food inflation at 9.2 percent; meat and other parts of slaughtered land animals at 9.9 percent; and sugar, confectionery and desserts at 17.6 percent contributed largely to the acceleration in the food inflation during the month. (DG)