Inflation witnessed at its slowest in 5 years

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MANILA – The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Wednesday said that the inflation rate is the slowest that they have seen in more than five years following the low prices on oil and stable food costs.

According to BSP Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr., the inflation rate for January is expected to further go down and prices would remain stable in the coming months.

“Latest runs show domestic inflation over the policy horizon will be well within the target range [of 2 to 4 percent],” said Tetangco.

For this month of January, BSP records showed that the increase of consumer price was at 1.8 and 2.7 percent compared with December 2014’s 2.7 percent. With this, average inflation would be at the slowest since August 2009 which is at 1.7 percent.

Earlier, BSP officials said that this low inflation rate would allow them to keep policy rates at near-record lows, allowing the economy to make the most out of it.

Next week, they will release the official data on January’s inflation rate.

“The BSP will watch economic and financial developments, including the balance of global liquidity, its impact on global inflation and growth dynamics, and how these would translate to investment sentiment, financial market moves and domestic inflation expectations,” explained Tetangco.

Many look at the country’s economy positively, after its 5.3-percent expansion last July-September 2014.

Aside from that, BSP is also looking at policy adjustments given that these could affect investment flow in the country.