Philippine inflation leaps to 14-year high in November

PHILIPPINE consumer prices rose more than expected in November, taking the annual increase to a 14-year high of 8.0 per cent, the statistics agency said on Tuesday, exerting more pressure on the central bank to stay on its monetary tightening path. The faster-than-expected increase in November was due to rises in food prices. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast inflation would accelerate to 7.8 per cent, while the central bank had forecast a figure of between 7.4 to 8.2 per cent. Excluding the volatile food and energy components, the core consumer price index rose 6.5 per cent, faster than October’s 5.9 per cent. The Philippine central bank last month delivered a second consecutive 75-basis-point interest rate hike and its governor, Felipe Medalla, flagged another, but possibly smaller, rate increase at the Dec 15 meeting, in step with the US central bank’s policy moves. REUTERS