“Higher prices of domestic petroleum products and key agricultural items contributed to upward price pressures during the month,” BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno told reporters on Viber, ahead of the release of official December inflation figures in early January. Latest Philippine Statistics Authority data showed that rice prices declined in the first week of December. The average retail price of regular milled rice slid to P36.29 a kilogram that week from P36.43 a kilogram seven days earlier. The local currency currently trades within the P48:$1 area, compared to the closing rate of P50.64 at end-December 2019. His remarks came after the central bank raised on December 17 its inflation forecast from 2.4 percent to 2.6 percent for 2020 and from 2.7 percent to 3.2 percent for 2021.

Source: Manila Times December 29, 2020 16:30 UTC