Philippine Inflation Flaring Up Is Putting Rate Hike in View
- Rice prices rose 17.9% in September, fastest since March 2009
- Central bank says ready to resume policy tightening as needed
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Philippine inflation accelerated to the fastest pace in four months in September as rice prices surged, boosting the case for the central bank to resume monetary policy tightening as soon as next month.
Consumer prices rose 6.1% from a year ago, quicker than the 5.3% in August, the statistics agency said on Thursday. The print puts it at the top end of the central bank’s September estimate while all 25 economists surveyed by Bloomberg expected it lower.