Inflation in the Philippines eased to 1.5 percent in November on the back of a decline in food costs, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Friday.
The latest reading is slower than October’s 1.7 percent. It came in below the 1.6-percent median forecast of 10 economists that the Inquirer polled last week.
Also, the latest print landed within the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) forecast range of 1.1 percent to 1.9 percent for November.
This brings the 11-month average to 1.6 percent, well below the BSP’s 2 percent to 4 percent target band for the full year.
The slowdown in inflation was largely driven by easing food prices, the PSA said. Inflation for food and non-alcoholic beverages rose by only 0.1 percent and accounted for 85.3 percent of the downtrend