Moody’s Analytics forecasts the country’s inflation rate to accelerate to 7.4 percent this October, faster than the previous month’s 6.9 percent.

The inflation forecast is included in its economic preview for the week covering Oct. 31 to Nov. 4.

In a reply to questions from the Philippine News Agency, Moody’s Analytics country analyst for the Philippines Sonia Zhu said their projection was made on account of the “transport fare hikes and higher food prices amidst the typhoon season, which caused extension damage to crop yield and disruption to supply chain.”

“The easing of global energy prices may help to offset utility prices, but the impact of overall headline inflation will be limited,” she said.

Asked for the firm’s projection on when domestic inflation may peak from its current uptrend, Zhu said they “expect inflation to stay elevated through the rest of this year and peak in early 2023.”

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) is scheduled to report the October 2022 inflation no later than Nov. 4.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) forecasts domestic rate of price increases for October 2022 to stay within 7.1 to 7.9 percent.

Last September, inflation rate accelerated to its highest since October 2018 due to higher annual growth rate of the food and non-alcoholic beverages index, as well as the housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels.

The uptick is a reversal of the previous month’s deceleration to 6.3 percent after hitting 6.4 percent in the previous month. (PNA)