Inflation & Prices
Cooling Philippine Inflation Boosts Odds of Rate Pause
- Month-on-month consumer price index fell 0.2%, same as March
- Central bank says risks to CPI outlook ‘tilted heavily’ upside
Consumer prices rose 6.6% year-on-year last month from 7.6% in March to the slowest pace since August.
Photographer: Veejay Villafranca/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Philippines’ overall inflation cooled for a third straight month in April from a year ago and was below all analysts estimates, supporting the case for a pause in monetary policy tightening.
Consumer prices rose 6.6% year-on-year last month from 7.6% in March to the slowest pace since August. The print was lower than all 24 estimates in a Bloomberg survey where the median was for a 7% gain. While still way above the central bank’s 2%-4% full-year inflation target, it well within Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’s expectation for the monthly reading to be between 6.3% and 7.1%.