The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said inflation in April hit its slowest rate in six years, at 1.4 percent from 1.8 percent in March, as food and non-alcoholic beverages showed further deceleration in price rises.
The comparative April inflation in 2024 stood at 3.8 percent.
Last month’s inflation is the slowest since November 2019, when the rate was recorded at 1.2 percent.
Claire Dennis S. Mapa, National Statistician and Civil Registrar General, said the downtrend in inflation last month was primarily brought about by the slower annual increment in the index of food and non-alcoholic beverages.
Also contributing to last month’s slowdown was the bigger year-on-year decrease in the transport index to 2.1 percent from 1.1 percent recorded in the preceding month.
Slower annual increases were also noted in the indices of clothing and footwear; information and communication; recreation, sport and culture; and personal care, and miscellaneous goods and services.
Some acceleration was observed, however, in the commodity groups of alcoholic beverages and tobacco; housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels; and health.
“The top three commodity groups contributing to the April 2025 overall inflation of 1.4 percent were (1) housing, water, electricity/gas and other fuels, with a 39.5 percent share or 0.6 percentage point; (2) food and non-alcoholic beverages, with a 24.6 percent share or 0.3 percentage point; and (3) restaurants and accommodation services, with s 15.2 percent share or 0.2 percentage point,” Mapa said.
Easing food prices
Mapa said food inflation at the national level further eased to 0.7 percent in April 2025 from 2.3 percent in the preceding month. In April 2024, food inflation was higher at 6.3 percent.
“Food inflation shared 18.2 percent or 0.3 percentage point to the overall inflation in April 2025,” Mapa said.
He traced the deceleration in food inflation in April 2025 primarily to an actual decline in the prices of rice, with the rice index posting a bigger year-on-year drop of 10.9 percent in April, compared with a 7.7 percent annual decrease in March.
“We are tracking three varieties of rice. For April, regular milled rice averaged at P44.45 per kilo in April 2025 from P51.25 in April last year. Well-milled rice averaged at P50.54 from P56.42. Special rice, meanwhile, averaged at P60.69 from P64.68 the previous month,” Mapa said.
The PSA also noted slower inflation rates in vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas and pulses at 2.3 percent during the month in review, from 6.9 percent in the preceding month of March, and fish and other seafood at 4.3 percent from 5.5 percent in the comparative periods.
In addition, faster annual decrements, or decreases, were noted in April in the indices of corn at 4.9 percent, and sugar, confectionery and desserts at 0.7 percent, compared with their respective year-on-year decreases of 1.6 percent and 0.6 percent in March 2025.
Meat and other parts of slaughtered land animals; fruits and nuts; and ready-made food and other food products not elsewhere classified also recorded slower inflation rates in April.
However, on the contrary, faster year-on-year increases were observed during the month in the indices of milk, other dairy products and eggs at 4.0 percent from 3.4 percent in the previous month, and oils and fats at 4.7 percent from 4.0 percent in March 2025, Mapa said.
Core inflation, which excludes selected food and energy items, remained at 2.2 percent in April 2025. In April 2024, core inflation rate was faster at 3.2 percent.
