MANILA (UPDATE) -- Inflation quickened in November after a series of storms pushed up the prices of several food items, the Philippine Statistics Authority said on Thursday.

Headline inflation was seen at 2.5 percent last month, which was faster than the 2.3 percent clip seen in October. This was despite a decline in rice prices from October to November. PSA Undersecretary and National Statistician Dennis Mapa said the string of storms that recently hit the country caused prices of vegetables, fish and some meat products to rise.   

"Yung good news natin ay yung bigas ay bumaba na yung inflation rate nya (The good news is that the rice inflation rate has gone down)," Mapa said. 

RICE DOWN; VEGGIES, FISH AND MEAT UP

He noted that rice inflation was at 5.1 percent in November compared to 9.6 percent in October. Rice prices have also gone down, he added. 

Mapa said they expect rice inflation to continue to ease in the coming months.

The PSA chief said the average price of regular milled rice was P49.24 per kilo in November, which was almost P1 lower than the P50.22 price in October. Well-milled rice also went down to P54.64 from P55.22, and special rice slid to P63.72 from P63.97. Economic managers however said in July that rice prices would go down by at least P5 per kilo after import tariffs on the grain were cut to 15 percent from 35 percent. 

Compared to prices in November last year, prices were also still up as regular milled rice was just P46.73 per kilo then, well-milled rice was P51.99, and special rice was P61.47. 

Vegetable prices meanwhile shot up after farms were damaged by the recent series of cyclones, causing a drop in the supply of vegetables. 

"That created a spike in the prices," Mapa said.  

He noted that the inflation rate for tomatoes alone shot up 37.2 percent from -47.9 percent in October. Prices of other vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas and pulses also increased, the PSA said. 

The inflation rate for fish and seafood also climbed to 0.4 percent during the month from a year-on-year decrease of 0.4 percent in October. Meat prices also increased, partly due to higher consumption leading up to the holiday season as well as the effects of the African swine fever outbreak on pork production.

PESO DEPRECIATION

The peso's depreciation versus the US dollar may have an impact on inflation, Mapa said. He noted that prices for fuels, lubricants used in transportation have been going down since August, but the rate of decline has been slowing down towards November. 

"We will see in the coming months kung magbabago yung trend natin (if the trend will change)," Mapa said.

The peso touched a historic low of P59 to the US dollar on Nov. 26, the third time it fell to this level. It has been weakening since the start of the year when it opened at P55.45, although it briefly clawed back value in September reaching a high of P55.61 on Sept. 19.  

PRICES STILL 'STABLE' 

The November inflation was within the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas' forecast range of 2.2 to 3 percent. This brought average inflation from January to November to 3.2 percent, which was within the government's target range of 2 to 4 percent.

"Core inflation, which excludes selected food and energy items, increased to 2.5 percent in November 2024 from 2.4 percent in October 2024. In November 2023, core inflation was faster at 4.7 percent," the PSA said.

The National Economic and Development Authority said government measures have helped ease inflationary pressures).

“Despite the strong typhoons our country faced in recent months, consumer prices have remained relatively stable. This demonstrates the resilience of our economy and the effectiveness of our policies,” said NEDA Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan.

The government continues to closely monitor prices of commodities, especially food, in the wake of successive typhoons in October and November, balisacan said in a statement. 

"These typhoons adversely affected food supply and logistics, resulting in a rise in food inflation to 3.5 percent from 3.0 percent, with vegetable inflation accelerating to 5.9 percent from -9.2 percent deflation in October," the NEDA chief said.

BSP Governor Eli Remolona earlier said the central bank may cut interest rates by another 25 basis points in its last policy-setting meeting this year. This would bring the cumulative cuts for 2024 to 75 bps and the benchmark rate to 5.75 percent.

Inflation and high interest rates have been cited as factors in keeping the country from hitting its original target economic growth rate of 6 to 7 percent this year.