April inflation zooms to 4.5% but ‘temporary’ — NEDA

Prices of goods are fast rising, but the pace temper soon enough.

The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) reported that inflation jumped to 4.5 percent in April, faster than 4.3 percent in March and 3.2 percent last year.

This pushed the four-month average to 4.1 percent, already higher than the central bank’s 2-4 percent target for 2018.

“The current surge in inflation is partly an initial reaction to the implementation of TRAIN and is expected to be short-lived and should taper off over the coming months,” NEDA Secretary Ernesto Pernia said in a statement.

Sin products led the surge as costs rose by 20 percent year-on-year, followed by a 5.9 percent uptick in food costs.

“While the major factors contributing to the recent surge in inflation are temporary, we need to remain vigilant against emerging price pressures and to implement mitigating measures immediately,” Pernia said, as he stressed anew the need to replace import quotas with rice tariffs to trim market costs.