MANILA (Reuters) – Philippine annual inflation slowed in August as the pace of price rises for food and non-alcoholic beverages moderated, the statistics agency said on Thursday.
The consumer price index (CPI) rose 3.3% in August from a year earlier, below the previous month’s 4.4% rise, bringing average inflation to 3.6% in the first eight months of the year.
The August inflation rate was within the central bank’s forecast range of 3.2% to 4.0%.Economists in a Reuters poll expected inflation of 3.6%.
The core inflation rate, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, was 2.6% last month.
(Reporting by Mikhail Flores and Neil Jerome Morales; Editing by John Mair)
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