MANILA — Philippine headline inflation was steady at 1.7 percent in October, the Philippine Statistics Authority said on Wednesday.
This was same as the 1.7 percent inflation rate seen in September, and was within the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ forecast range of 1.4 to 2.2 percent for the month.
This meant that the average inflation rate for the first ten months of the year also stayed at 1.7 percent.
National Statistician and PSA Undersecretary Dennis Mapa said food prices had slower increases in October, rising at just 0.3 percent compared to 0.8 percent in September.
Mapa noted that prices of vegetables, meats, eggs, and dairy products had slower inflation. Prices of fruits also became cheaper compared to their prices from October last year.
The Department of Economy Planning and Development (DEPDev) said this reflects the government’s proactive measures to manage supply conditions and shield families from potential price pressures.
“The steady headline inflation rate shows that our coordinated interventions are helping to maintain adequate supplies and keeping essential goods affordable,” said DEPDev Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan.
“We remain vigilant in managing risks from weather disturbances, global market volatility, and other domestic factors that may affect prices in the coming months,” he said.
However, inflation was faster at 2.9 percent in October in the National Capital Region, compared to 2.7 percent in the previous month.
“The faster inflation rate in NCR was mainly influenced by the faster annual increase in the housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels index at 5.6 percent in October 2025 from 4.7 percent in the previous month,” the PSA said.
In contrast, inflation areas outside the NCR slowed to 1.3 percent in October from 1.5 percent in September. The slower inflation was mainly due to the slower increases in food prices in these areas.
Inflation for the poorest segment of the populace, or the bottom 30 percent income households, also slowed by -0.4 percent in October, which was faster than the -0.2 in the previous month.
Core inflation, which strips away food and fuel prices which are prone to big swings, slowed to 2.5 percent this month from 2.6 percent in September.
The BSP meanwhile, said the outlook for inflation is generally benign, remaining well within the target range, but added that there were still factors that could quicken inflation.
“Potential electricity rate adjustments and possible increases in tariffs on rice imports could add some upward pressures. Nonetheless, the risks to the inflation outlook are limited as price pressures are expected to ease amid stabilizing global commodity prices,” the BSP said.
The outlook for economic growth meanwhile, has weakened, in part due to the impact on business confidence of governance concerns about public infrastructure spending, the BSP added.
“Indications of slowing demand also reflect lingering uncertainty from the external environment,” the central bank said.
Benign inflation has so far allowed the BSP to continue cutting interest rates, to help support economic growt,h which has been falling below expectations. The low rates howeve,r have been cited by some analysts as contributing to the weakness of the peso, which hit a record low of P59.20 to the US dollar at the end of last month, before clawing back some value in the succeeding days.
Another benchmark rate cut from the BSP is expected before the year ends.
