By Rosemarie Francisco
Inquirer.net
Annual inflation hit 12.5 percent in August, another near 17-year high, but the central bank said price pressures may have peaked, signalling its tightening campaign could be drawing to a close.
The figure matched market consensus, coming at the high end of the central bank's 11.8-12.6 percent forecast range and up from July's revised 12.3 percent, data showed on Friday.
However, the monthly pace of price increases slowed sharply to 0.3 percent from 1.6 percent in July as food costs, which have climbed at a red-hot rate this year on fears of rice shortages, stayed level and the pace of fuel price increases slowed.
"We are seeing moderation in prices. If this continues, obviously inflation will slow down," Governor Amando Tetangco said on Friday, commenting on the data.
"Central bank will watch this closely to see if the slowdown would continue and be more generalized. A reversal in the downtrend of oil prices remains the biggest risk to the inflation outlook," he told reporters.
Tetangco said he was not ruling out that inflation had already peaked last month. The central bank had earlier predicted consumer price growth would peak in September or October.
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Topic: Philippine Inflation 17-Year High at 12.5% (Read 642 times)