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Inflation rose to an eight-month high of 2.9 percent due to higher transport costs, the Philippine Statistics Authority ( PSA) said Wednesday.

''This is the highest inflation recorded since June 2019, in which the inflation was posted at 2.7 percent,'' the PSA said.

In December 2019 inflation reached 2.5 percent and 4.4 percent in January 2019.

''The main source of the upward trend in January 2020 inflation was the higher annual increment in transport. Particularly, annual rates in petroleum and fuels for personal transport equipment and ferry/ship fare, both went up by 13.0 percent in January 2020 from 8.7 percent and 5.2 percent in December 2019, respectively,'' the PSA said.

Higher annual increase in alcoholic beverages and tobacco also pushed up the overall inflation, it added.

The PSA said annual rates went up further in the following commodities:

Cigarettes, 25.3 percent in January 2020 from 24.5 percent in December 2019;

Brandy, 3.9 percent from 3.4 percent; and

Beer, 4.0 percent from 3.7 percent.

Higher annual rate observed in housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels contributed to higher inflation.

This was primarily due to higher annual increments in the following commodities:

LPG, 13.8 percent in January 2020 from 1.9 percent in December 2019;

Kerosene, 6.1 percent from 1.1 percent; and

Charcoal, 4.2 percent from 1.0 percent.

Among the 11 major commodity groups, the top contributor to the January 2020 inflation was food and non-alcoholic beverages.

Contributing to the inflation of food and non-alcoholic beverages for January 2020 were the following food groups:

Fish, 8.8 percent inflation and 77.1 percent share;

Vegetables, 8.3 percent inflation and 32.9 percent share; and

Meat, 3.4 percent inflation and 32.4 percent share.

The second major contributor to the overall inflation was housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels, which recorded an inflation of 2.5 percent and a share of 20.1 percent to the overall inflation.

The highest inflation among the regions outside the National Capital Region remained in the Bicol region) at 3.9 percent from 3.3 percent in December 2019.

Based on the preliminary results, inflation for the bottom 30 percent income households at the national level went up by 2.6 percent in January 2020.

Inflation for the bottom 30 percent income households in December 2019 was posted at 2.1 percent and in January 2019, 4.9 percent. DMS