Business | Economy
Inflation begins to slow down in Philippines
The Philippines central bank has said it sees signs that its monetary tightening over the last two months was starting to make some headway in braking inflationary pressures.
- Reuters
- Published: 23:49 August 10, 2008
Manila: The Philippines central bank has said it sees signs that its monetary tightening over the last two months was starting to make some headway in braking inflationary pressures.
"We'll look at the impact on the inflation outlook, because the trend before was an acceleration, it's now a deceleration so that should be positive for future inflation," Governor Amando Tetangco said.
Annual inflation in July hit a near 17-year high of 12.2 per cent due to climbing food prices but the uptick in the rate from June's annual level of 11.4 per cent was less than the 1-2 percentage point increases seen in previous months.
Core inflation, which strips out volatile food and energy costs, was 6.3 per cent from a year earlier compared to 6.6 per cent in June, its first let-up in pace since November.
The central bank has hiked rates by 75 basis points since June and analysts expect a third straight rate increase when the rate-setting board meets on August 28.
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