Inflation at 2% highest in 11 months

Government statisticians reported a 2-percent inflation rate for January, the highest in 11 months,  but many Filipinos who are still reeling from higher prices of goods are not convinced.

Such an inflation figure had the fastest pace since February 2025 when we notched 2.1 percent.

Still, a huge part of the population aired doubts, pointing out that while the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) based its calculations on higher prices of electricity, gas, rent and other items, this did not jive with the fact that the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) which is the dominant distributor of electricity, has even pruned its rates in the period under study.

“The main reason for the higher inflation rate in January 2026 compared with December 2025 is the faster price increase in housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels, which recorded a 3.3% inflation rate,” National Statistician Claire Dennis S. Mapa said at a news briefing on Thursday. 

Inflation for housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels quickened to 3.3%, the fastest since 3.8% in August 2024.

According to the PSA, this commodity group had a 45.9% share in the overall inflation uptick in January.

Broken down, inflation for electricity rose to 6.5% year on year in January from the revised 4% in December, while rental prices picked up by 2.9% during the month from 2.4% in December.

It was noted that this  marked the first time in almost a year that the consumer price index (CPI) hit the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) 2%-4% target.