MANILA (Reuters) – Philippine consumer prices rose more than expected in November, taking the annual increase to a 14-year high of 8.0%, the statistics agency said on Tuesday, exerting more pressure on the central bank to stay on its monetary tightening path.
The faster-than-expected increase in November was due to rises in food prices. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast inflation would accelerate to 7.8%, while the central bank had forecast a figure of between 7.4%-8.2%.
Excluding the volatile food and energy components, the core consumer price index rose 6.5%, faster than October’s 5.9%.
The Philippine central bank last month delivered a second consecutive 75-basis-point interest rate hike and its governor, Felipe Medalla, flagged another, but possibly smaller, rate increase at the Dec. 15 meeting, in step with the U.S. central bank’s policy moves.
(Reporting by Neil Jerome Morales and Enrico dela Cruz; Writing by Karen Lema; Editing by Ed Davies)
