MANILA: Philippine annual inflation eased for a fifth straight month in June, the statistics agency said on Wednesday (Jul 5), reflecting a slower rise in food and transport costs.
The consumer price index was up 5.4 per cent in June, its slowest pace annually since April, but the rate remained outside the central bank's 2 per cent to 4 per cent target for the year.
Economists had forecast the CPI to rise 5.5 per cent in June from a year earlier, within the central bank's 5.3 per cent to 6.1 per cent projection for the month.
Core inflation, which strips out volatile food and fuel items, slowed to 7.4 from 7.7 per cent in May.
Headline inflation in the first half averaged 7.1 per cent.