Economists eye higher inflation rate for PHL in ‘17

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MANILA – Economists surveyed by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) eye higher rate of price increases in the Philippines in 2017.

Highlights of the Monetary Board (MB) policy meeting on Aug. 13, 2015 showed that the analysts’ mean forecasts went up a bit to 3.1 percent last July from the previous month’s three percent.

The slight uptick was attributed to the over-all projection of higher but within-target inflation rate in the next two years due partly to the impact of the expected worst dry spell in the country, which the weather bureau said would be felt until the first half of 2016.

However, the economists’ mean forecast for this year slid to 2.1 percent from 2.3 percent previously due to sustained drop in inflation as food supply remain robust and prices of oil continue to tumble.

On the other hand, the mean inflation forecast for 2016 is eyed at three percent from 3.1 percent.

According the MB meeting highlight, which the central bank released Thursday, monetary officials consider the possibility that average inflation this year would be below the two to four percent target for this year until 2018.

”But (it) will nevertheless remain within the target range of 3.0 one percentage point over the rest of the policy horizon,” it added.

As of last August, inflation averaged at 1.7 percent after rate last August alone further declined to decades-low level of 0.6 percent from 0.8 percent in the previous month.

The inflation rate last August is the fourth consecutive month that the level ended below the government’s target band.