The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Wednesday reported inflation of 6.9 percent for September 2022, a four-year high.
According to the PSA, the September inflation was the highest recorded since October 2018.
The September inflation was higher than the 6.3 percent rate in August and 4.2 percent in September 2021.
In a press conference, National statistician Dennis Mapa said September inflation nearly approached February 2009 levels, when inflation was at 7.2 percent.
According to Mapa, the increase in the country’s inflation was mainly brought about by the higher annual increase in the index for food and non-alcoholic beverages.
Mapa said the 7.4-percent inflation in food and non-alcoholic beverages had a 70.6-percent share in the increase in the country’s overall inflation.
Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels also saw faster inflation of 7.3 percent from 6.8 percent in August, which contributed 18.2 percent to the overall inflation. John Ezekiel J. Hirro