By Chino Leyco
Headline inflation further slid last month as the coronavirus pandemic continued to drag down consumer demand.
(Czar Dancel / MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)
The rate of increase in consumer prices, or inflation, clocked in at 2.1 percent in April, slightly lower compared with 2.2 percent in the previous month.
“Slowdown in the headline inflation in May, 2020, was mainly driven by the 5.6 percent annual drop in the transport index,” the PSA said.
The downtrend in the inflation rate was also due to slower price increases recorded in the food and non-aloholic beverages (2.9 percent), clothing and footwear (2.4 percent), furnishing, household equipment and routine maintenance of the house (4.1 percent), and recreation and culture (1.4 percent).
The April inflation rate brought the country’s first five-month average to 2.5 percent, well within the government’s target of 2.0 percent to 4.0 percent.