Finance Secretary Ralph G. Recto assured the public that the government is carefully balancing food and non-food inflation mitigation measures by conducting regular reviews and adjustments of policies to ensure that Filipinos’ purchasing power is well protected.

“We are vigilantly tracking persistent inflation drivers and employing a whole-of-government approach in crafting data-driven policy measures to effectively counter their effects in a sustainable manner. Our top priority is to ensure that the majority of Filipinos, especially the poor and vulnerable sector, benefit from these interventions,” he said.

The inflation rate of 3.9% for May 2024 is significantly lower than the 6.1% recorded in the same period last year.

This brings the year-to-date (YTD) inflation rate to 3.5%, well within the government’s target band of 2% to 4%.

The slight uptick in the inflation rate in May compared to the 3.8% in the previous month was primarily influenced by the higher year-on-year (yoy) increase in the price of housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels (0.9% to 0.4%) as well as transport (3.5% from 2.6%).

Notably, food inflation slowed down to 6.1% in May 2024 from 6.3% in the previous month.

This downtrend was mainly due to the slower yoy increase in the prices of vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas, and pulses (2.7% from 4.3%). Fish and other seafood had zero contribution to inflation in May from 0.4% in the preceding month.