Philippine inflation weakened to the lowest level in nearly five years in March, giving room for the central bank to ease monetary policy further.
Consumer price inflation weakened to 1.8 percent in March from 2.1 percent in February, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority showed Friday. This was the lowest rate since May 2020.
Core inflation, which excludes food and energy prices, stood at 2.2 percent, down from 2.4 percent in the previous month.
The overall slowdown was mainly driven by the slowdown in prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages, clothing and footwear, furnishing and household equipments, health and recreation.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas had kept its interest rates unchanged in February after cutting it for three straight times. The bank had forecast inflation to average 3.5 percent this year and 3.7 percent next year.
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