THE country’s headline inflation accelerated to 2.5 percent in October due to higher prices of food and non-alcoholic drinks, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Thursday. October’s inflation rate is higher than the 2.3 percent in September this year and the 0.8 percent recorded in October 2019. The rate matches June’s 2.5 percent and is slightly higher than the 2.4 percent average estimate of economists earlier polled by The Manila Times. In September 2020, inflation for food was registered at 1.5 percent, and in October 2019, it dropped at -1.3 percent. Mapa said the higher inflation in the food index was due to the jump in the inflation of the meat index at 4.7 percent during the month, from 2.9 percent in September 2020.

Source: Manila Times November 05, 2020 01:30 UTC