Philippines says May annual inflation at 4.6%

[MANILA] Philippine annual inflation quickened in May but at a slower pace than expected, the country's statistics agency said on Tuesday.

The consumer price index rose 4.6 per cent from a year earlier, slightly faster than the April reading of 4.5 per cent and at the lower end of the central bank's forecast of 4.6-5.4 per cent. That was slower than the median forecast of 4.9 per cent in a Reuters' poll of economists.

That was the fastest pace of increase in at least five years.

The Philippine Statistics Authority, which has shifted to a new base year in computing inflation, is yet to release updated figures for the years before 2013. Core inflation, which strips out volatile food and fuel items, was 3.6 per cent.

REUTERS