The country’s headline inflation decelerated further to 4.6 percent in October 2021, from 4.8 percent in September 2021. This brings the year-to-date inflation from January to October 2021 at 4.5 percent. Inflation in October 2020 was posted at 2.5 percent.
The main source of the downward trend of the October 2021 inflation was primarily due to the slower annual increment registered in food and non-alcoholic beverages index at 5.3 percent, from 6.2 percent in September 2021.
Contributing also to the downward trend in the overall inflation were the lower inflation recorded in the indices of the following commodity groups:
Alcoholic beverages and tobacco, 9.8 percent;
Education, 0.7 percent; and
Restaurant and miscellaneous good and services; 3.8 percent.
On the other hand, inflation rates were higher in the indices of the following commodity groups:
Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, 4.4 percent;
Furnishing, household equipment and routine maintenance of the house, 2.5 percent;
Health, 3.2 percent
Transport, 7.1 percent; and
Recreation and culture, 1.0 percent.
The indices for clothing and footwear, and communication retained their previous month’s annual growth rates of 1.9 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively.
Excluding selected food and energy items, core inflation, inched up to 3.4 percent in October 2021, from 3.3 percent in September 2021. In October 2020, core inflation was posted at 3.0 percent.
Inflation for food index at the national level slowed down further to 5.6 percent in October 2021, from 6.5 percent in the September 2021. In October 2020, inflation for food was observed at 2.1 percent.
Annual hikes decelerated during the month in the indices of meat at 11.9 percent; fish, 9.5 percent; and vegetables at 11.4 percent.
Meanwhile, the annual growth rate of fruits index rose to 0.2 percent during the month, after posting an annual decline of -0.4 percent in September 2021. Moreover, the annual rate of rice index went up to 0.5 percent during the month, from a zero percent annual growth in the previous month.
Higher annual increments were also registered in the indices of other food groups during the month, except for the indices of milk, cheese and eggs; and food products not elsewhere classified, which retained their previous month’s annual growth rates of 0.7 percent and 1.9 percent, respectively.
Source: PSA
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