Inflation in the Philippines decreased in February to 8.6%

3 percent was a lower inflation rate in February 2022. The average inflation rate for the first two months of this year stood at 8.6 percent.

"Among the 13 commodity groups, the transport was the sole driver of the downtrend of the overall inflation during the month, recording a 9 percent inflation rate in February 2023 from 11.1 percent inflation in January 2023," PSA head Dennis Mapa told a news conference.

He claimed that nine commodity groups, including food and non-alcoholic beverages at 10.8% and alcoholic beverages and tobacco at 11%, showed higher inflation rates.

The core inflation rate rose to 7.8% in February 2023 from 7.4% in January 2023, with energy and food being the top contributors. Balisacan stressed the need to "rethink" government strategies to combat rising food prices.

"Agricultural imports were ill-timed, and food supplies have been inadequate. The solution is to get to the root of the problem, including fixing the bottlenecks along all segments of the agricultural value chain," Balisacan added.

In January 2023, inflation rose to 8.7%, exceeding the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas' forecast of 7.5 to 8.3% and private sector economists' median estimate of 7.6%. To maintain price stability, the BSP hiked its policy rate by 50 basis points to 6.0% effective on February 17, 2023.