The Philippines’ headline inflation decelerated further to 1.7 percent in August 2019. This is the lowest inflation since October 2016, in which the inflation rate was 1.8 percent. Inflation in July 2019 was higher at 2.4 percent and in August 2018, 6.4 percent. The slowdown of inflation in August 2019 was mainly due to the slower annual increase in the index of the heavily-weighted food and non-alcoholic beverages at 0.6 percent. Moreover, the following commodity groups posted slower annual rates during the month:
