The country’s headline inflation could have eased further to 1.9 percent or picked up slightly to 2.7 percent last month on account of lower oil prices, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said on Thursday. The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) will release official April inflation data on May 5. This comes after the Bangko Sentral trimmed its baseline average inflation outlook to 2 percent from 2.2 percent for 2020, but adjusted upward its 2021 projection to 2.45 percent from 2.4 percent. Reasons for the revised 2020 inflation estimate are the continued collapse of global crude prices, decline of non-oil prices and the impact of coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic on global and domestic growth prospects, Diokno said. The new 2020 average inflation forecast, on the other hand, was due to the projected strong recovery in domestic activity and higher liquidity growth, he added.

Source: Manila Times April 30, 2020 17:26 UTC