Prices sprinted harder in April, with inflation jumping to its fastest pace in over a year as transport, food, and utilities pushed household costs higher across the country.
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported Tuesday that headline inflation rose to 7.2 percent in April 2026 from 4.1 percent in March, marking a sharp acceleration from the 1.4 percent recorded in the same month last year.
The average inflation from January to April now stands at 3.9 percent.
PSA data showed the surge was mainly driven by steep increases in food and non-alcoholic beverages, transport, and housing-related costs, which collectively accounted for the bulk of price pressures during the month.
Food inflation alone climbed to 6.1 percent from 2.7 percent in March, with rice emerging as the biggest driver after its annual increase jumped to 13.7 percent from 3.5 percent the previous month. Corn, fish, vegetables, fruits, and bakery products also posted faster price increases.
Transport costs rose even more sharply, posting a 21.4 percent increase from 9.9 percent in March, while housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels accelerated to 8.2 percent from 4.7 percent.
Higher prices were also recorded across several sectors, including alcoholic beverages and tobacco, health, restaurants and accommodation services, and personal goods and services.
Core inflation, which strips out volatile food and energy items, also moved higher to 3.9 percent from 3.2 percent.
In the National Capital Region, inflation climbed to 5.5 percent from 3.5 percent, while Areas Outside NCR saw a faster rise to 7.7 percent from 4.2 percent, with Central Visayas posting the highest regional inflation at 10.8 percent.
Economists often track food and transport trends closely, as both remain key drivers of household spending and everyday consumption pressures.
The PSA said the continued upward movement reflects broad-based price increases across major commodity groups, with food, fuel, and utilities leading the surge nationwide.
Photo by Jacq Hernandez, PBB Photojournalist
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