Philippines' December inflation accelerates to 3.5% y-o-y

[MANILA] Philippine annual inflation picked up faster than expected to 3.5 per cent in December, driven by the heavily-weighted food and non-alcoholic beverages sector to hit the highest level since February 2019, the statistics agency said on Tuesday.

That brought the full-year 2020 average to 2.6 per cent, still comfortably within the official target range of 2 per cent to 4 per cent.

But the December headline figure came in above the median 3.1 per cent forecast in a Reuters poll and was near the top end of the central bank's projected range of 2.9 per cent to 3.7 per cent.

Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and fuel prices, picked up to 3.3 per cent from 3.2 per cent in November.

REUTERS