Finance Undersecretary Gil Beltran said Monday inflation rate is expected to sustain its downward trajectory until the latter part of the year.
Beltran said in an economic bulletin the general price level in July increased by 2.4 percent year-on-year, slower than 5.7 percent in the same month last year and 2.7 percent in June this year.
“Food items largely contributed to this decline, with the average rice price decreasing by nearly 2.9 percent. Non-food items rose by a modest 2.4 percent with major non-food items such as housing, utilities, and fuels contributing to the decline,” Beltran said.
Education rose by 4.3 percent in view of the opening of classes, reversing last year’s 3.9-percent decline. Beltran said month-on-month, the price level increased by 0.25 percent or 3 percent if annualized which was within the inflation target range of 2 percent to 4 percent.
“If month-on-month price increase is at most 0.3-percentage point for the rest of the year, year-on-year inflation rate will continue its downtrend to low 1.2 percent before picking up to 1.7 percent in November,” Beltran said.
