Philippine headline inflation eased further to 1.3 percent in May, a new six-year low, from 1.4 percent in April, as annual increases in utilities and transportation costs slowed, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said on Thursday.
This brings the average inflation rate from January to May 2025 to 1.9 percent.
In May 2024, the inflation rate was higher at 3.9 percent.
The latest headline inflation rate matched the mean average forecast of 1.33 percent made by analysts polled by Malaya Business Insight last week.
Claire Dennis S. Mapa, National Statistician and Civil Registrar General, said last month’s inflation is the slowest since November 2019, when the rate was recorded at 1.2 percent.
Mapa said the decline in inflation last month was primarily brought about by the slower annual increment in the index of housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels at 2.3 percent in May 2025 from 2.9 percent in the month earlier.
A faster annual decline was recorded in the transport index at 2.4 percent in May 2025 from a 2.1 percent annual drop in April.
Also contributing to the downtrend were prices of restaurant and accommodation services, which dropped to 2 percent in May from 2.3 percent in April.
The furnishing, household equipment, and routine household maintenance index also recorded slower annual growth of 2.0 percent during the month in review, from 2.1 percent in April 2025.
“The biggest contributor to the slowdown in May inflation was housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels with a 37.1 percent share or 0.5 percentage point (to the total inflation),” Mapa said.
Rounding up the top three were food and non-alcoholic beverages, with a 25.7 percent share or 0.3 percentage point, and restaurants and accommodation services with a 15.5 percent share or 0.2 percentage point.
However, Mapa said higher inflation rates were observed in the indexes of alcoholic beverages and tobacco (3.8 percent from 3.7 percent); information and communication (0.4 percent from 0.3 percent); recreation, sport and culture (2.2 percent from 2.1 percent); and education services (4.3 percent from 4.2 percent).
