June inflation seen within 2-4% target

Most forecasts point to 3.9% print

- KEISHA TA-ASAN

Headline inflation may still fall within the two to four percent target of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) in June amid easing price pressures, analysts said.

Sarah Tan, an economist at Moody’s Analytics, said inflation is expected to remain unchanged at 3.9 percent in June, ending four straight months of increases.

At 3.9 percent, the projection is well within the 3.4 to 4.2 percent forecast range of the BSP. The Philippine Statistics Authority will release the June consumer price index (CPI) report on July 5.

“Soaring prices of rice over the last few months have broadly stabilized, as we’ve passed the peak of the dry spell period. Further, electricity rates in June were lowered by Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) – the largest utility provider in the country,” Tan said.

Meralco lowered the electricity rate by P1.9623 per kilowatt-hour in June, bringing the overall rate for a typical household to P9.4516 per kWh from the previous month’s P11.4139 per kWh.

This was after an order from the Energy Regulatory Commission to stagger the collection of generation charges from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market.

However, Tan said upward price pressures last month may likely come from other agricultural products besides rice. Transport charges may also remain elevated.