Maniolas

MANILA, Philippines – Prices of goods and services decelerated to a near four-year low with inflation settling at 2.5 percent in July, the National Statistics Office (NSO) reported on Tuesday. Inflation in July was slower than the previous month’s 2.7 percent, and the slowest since the 2.3 percent recorded in September 2009.  Year-to-date, inflation settled at 2.9 percent, lower than the central bank’s 3-5-percent target for 2013. Inflation a year ago was at 3.2 percent. “The indices of alcoholic beverages and tobacco; clothing and footwear; housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels; furnishing, household equipment and routine maintenance of the house; recreation and culture; and restaurant and miscellaneous goods and services recorded slower annual increases during the month,” NSO said. Inflation within the National Capital region dropped to 1 percent from June’s 1.6 percent while other areas similarly slowed down to 2.9 percent from 3 percent. Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said the slow uptick in prices was driven by lower inflation among food items. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 “According to the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS), there were sharp reductions in the prices of vegetables in Metro Manila. These include ampalaya, sitao, cabbage, carrots, baguio beans and white potatoes, while tomatoes posted slower price increases in July 2013 compared to the previous month,” Balisacan said. Data from BAS showed that the average price of ampalaya was cheaper by 10.5 percent, sitao by 2.7 percent, cabbage by 31.5 percent, carrots 21.4 percent, baguio beans by Read More …