Inflation significantly slowed down to 4.1 percent in November, the lowest recorded in the past 20 months since March 2022, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Tuesday.

The further drop in the inflation rate can be attributed to the timely implementation of strategies to stabilize food supply amid the anticipated domestic and external headwinds in the coming months, NEDA said.

The Philippine Statistics Authority reported that inflation in November further eased to 4.1 percent from 4.9 percent in October, following the further deceleration of food and non-food prices during the month. This brings the year-to-date inflation rate to 6.2 percent.

The downtrend in the overall inflation last month was primarily brought about by the decrease in food inflation to 5.8 percent from 7.1 percent in October. This was due to the deflation in vegetables (-2.0 percent from 11.9percent) and lower inflation of fish (4.9 percent from 5.6 percenr), meat (0.5 percent from 0.8 percent), sugar (1.5 percenr from 4.9 percent), bread and other cereals (6.9 percent from 7.4 percent), and fruits (13.1 percent from 13.5 percent).

In addition, non-food inflation eased further to 2.9 percent from 3.4 percent in October, resulting from deflation in transportation (-0.8 percent from 1.0 percent) and slower inflation in restaurant and accommodation services (5.6 percenr from 6.3 percent).

“With the right interventions in place, including the proper and timely deployment of trade policy, we are confident that we can effectively manage inflation and prevent unnecessary upticks in prices of goods and commodities to safeguard the purchasing power of Filipino families, especially those from the most vulnerable sectors,” NEDA Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said.

The country’s chief socioeconomic planner added that the government needs to continue monitoring the inflation situation in the face of continued price pressures coming from geopolitical tensions and extreme weather situations, further fueling uncertainty.

Balisacan said that to ensure sufficient supply and stable prices of rice, the Inter-Agency Committee on Inflation and Market Outlook (IAC-IMO) sub-committee on food inflation has proposed to maintain the lower tariff rates on rice, corn and swine meat.

At the same time, differentiated support must be provided to agricultural producers, depending how and when they will be affected by El Nino.

Measures to reduce transport and delivery costs are being undertaken as well.

Based on the latest monitoring by the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration’s (PAGASA), a strong El Nino is present in the country and is projected to intensify in the coming months until the second quarter of 2024.

This could bring below-normal rainfall across the country and disrupt food production and energy generation. NEDA Public Affairs