PHILIPPINE inflation accelerated for the second month in March on higher rice prices, likely keeping the central bank from prematurely easing interest rates. Consumer prices rose 3.7 per cent on-year last month, the statistics agency reported on Friday (Apr 5), up from the 3.4 per cent gain in February. While the headline inflation level is still within the central bank’s forecast range of 3.4 to 4.2 per cent and lower than the 3.8 per cent median estimate of economists in a Bloomberg survey, it is the soaring rice prices that is worrying. Rice inflation came in at 24.4 per cent during the month, data showed, after quickening 23.7 per cent the previous month, which was then the highest since February 2009. Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas governor Eli Remolona last month said that it is still too soon to declare victory against inflation as the latest data have yet to provide sufficient assurance that inflation has settled comfortably within the 2 to 4 per cent target. Costlier food due to El Nino, along with higher transport and power costs, remains a key risk to the price outlook. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said in an interview with Bloomberg News in March that inflation remains the country’s biggest problem and that it is too soon for the central bank to bring down borrowing costs. BLOOMBERG