In a December 29, 2021 press release, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) projected December 2021 national headline inflation to settle within the 3.5% to 4.3% range on the strength of higher electricity rates and the uptick in food prices due to weather disturbances.
This comes as a slight reversal from the downtrend to 4.2% Philippine headline inflation reported the month prior in November 2021 as per the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
The November 2021 slowdown was attributed to lower inflation rates reported in the indices for food and non-alcoholic beverages (down to 3.9% from 5.3% in October 2021) alcoholic beverages and tobacco (down to 7.5% from 9.8% in October 2021), and furnishing, household equipment, and routine maintenance of the house (down to 2.4% from 2.5% in October 2021). These were offset by higher inflation rates reported for housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels (up to 4.6% from just 4.4% in October 2021) and transport (up to 8.8% from just 7.1% in October 2021).
Nonetheless, the BSP’s projection remains under the average inflation rate from January to November 2021 of 4.5% and well under the high of 4.9% reported in August 2021.
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