Consumer prices rose at a slower pace in January brought about by milder costs of household utilities as well as restaurants and accommodation services.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Friday, Feb. 4., that the headline inflation went down to 3.0 percent in January 2022 from 3.2 percent in December. It was also lower than the 3.7 percent recorded in the same month last year.

Likewise, the January inflation reading is within the government’s full target of 2.0 percent to 4.0 percent, but slightly higher than the market consensus of 2.8 percent.

“The slowdown in the overall inflation was mainly due to the lower annual increase in housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels at 4.5 percent in January 2022, from 5.1 percent in December 2021,” the PSA said.

Also contributing to the downtrend was the slower pace of increases registered in alcoholic beverages and tobacco, 5.6 percent; housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels, 4.5 percent; and health, 3.1 percent.

In addition, recreation, sport and culture also seen slower inflation at 1.5 percent, along with education services, 0.6 percent; and restaurants and accommodation services, 3.0 percent.

The improved inflation number, meanwhile, came after the PSA adopted 2018 prices as the base year for computing inflation beginning this year. The agency regularly rebases the inflation series around every six years.

In January, non-food inflation declined to 3.8 percent in January from 3.9 percent in December. Meanwhile, food inflation remained at 1.6 percent, as the slower prices in meat was offset by the faster inflation in corn.

Meat inflation fell to 4.3 percent from 8.7 percent in December, as inflation for all meat products decreased. In particular, pork inflation dropped to 6.2 percent from 10.8 percent.

On the other hand, corn inflation significantly increased to 27.7 percent in January from an already high 16.5 percent in December. This is an emerging issue that underscores the need to promote a more comprehensive reform program for the whole livestock value chain.

“While we move for the extension of Executive Order Nos. 133 and 134 to increase local supply and ensure regular unloading of stocks, we also call for the timely passage of the proposed Livestock Development and Competitiveness (LDC) Bill to boost the productivity of the livestock sector and value chain,” Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua said.

Among the major provisions of the LDC Bill is the updating of the corn industry roadmap, along with the establishment of “competitiveness enhancement funds” for the components of the livestock value chain. This can cover corn farmers.

With corn is used as animal feeds for livestock, poultry, and fish, this also helps address fish inflation, which remains elevated at 6.2 percent in January.

“We are taking a more proactive approach in promoting the development and competitiveness of corn. We are doing this to help ease prices of sources of protein such as meat and fish, which are still among the top drivers of our country’s overall inflation,” Chua said.