MANILA, July 7 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines' inflation went up to 2.5 percent in June this year after four consecutive months of deceleration, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said on Tuesday.
In May 2020, inflation was posted at 2.1 percent and in June 2019 at 2.7 percent.
"The main source of the upward trend in June 2020 inflation was the annual increase in the transport index, specifically double-digit annual high was recorded in the index of tricycle fare," PSA head Claire Dennis Mapa said in an online briefing.
Mapa said tricycle fares in June increased by 26 percent across the country to an estimated P17 per passenger from P12 previously, while in the capital city of Manila alone, tricylce fares rose by 43.7 percent month-on-month, and 129.3 percent on a year-on-year basis.
Public transport was suspended since March when many parts of the country have been put under varying degrees of lockdown amid COVID-19 pandemic, and was only reallowed on June 1 albeit on a limited basis.
PSA data showed annual increases in the indices of alcoholic beverages and tobacco at 18.5 percent; and in housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels; and communication, both at 0.4 percent, also pushed up the June inflation.
Meanwhile, the PSA said annual mark-ups slowed down in the indices of commodity groups during the period such as food and non-alcoholic beverages at 2.7 percent; recreation and culture, 1.2 percent; education, 1.6 percent; and restaurant and miscellaneous goods and services, 2.3 percent.
Indices of the rest of the commodity groups such as clothing and footwear; furnishing, household equipment and routine maintenance of the house; and health were the same as their previous month's annual growth rates, the PSA added.
Core inflation -- which excludes selected volatile food and energy items to measure underlying price pressures -- likewise, recorded a higher annual gain of 3.0 percent in June 2020, the PSA said.
In the previous month, the PSA said core inflation was noted at 2.9 percent, while in the same month of 2019, it was 3.3 percent. Enditem
