Private economists surveyed by the central bank in the third quarter this year project lower inflation rate for this year and next year due to well-behaved global commodity prices.

Result of the survey done last September showed an average inflation forecast for this year of 2.9 percent, down from the 3.1 percent in the survey down in the previous quarter, and 3.5 percent for next year, lower than the 3.6 percent previously.

The inflation forecast for this year is lower than the three to five percent target of the government for this and next year while the projection for 2014 is within target.

On the other hand, the 2015 average inflation forecast is steady at 3.6 percent.

The central bank’s inflation target for 2015 is a range between two to four percent.

In the first 10 months this year, inflation averaged at 2.8 percent.

For last October alone, inflation posted an uptick to 2.9 percent from month-ago’s 2.7 percent due to faster pace of annual inflation in food and non-alcoholic beverages b because of the impact of Typhoon Urduja, among others.

Prices of clothing and footwear also registered a faster rate of increase during the month.

During the policy meeting of the central bank’s policy-making Monetary Board in October, the board maintained its three percent inflation forecast for this year but increased to four percent the inflation forecast for 2014 from 3.9 percent previously.

For 2015, the forecast was reduced to 3.4 percent from 3.5 percent.

Amid the changes in the inflation forecast for the three-year period, monetary officials maintain that inflation expectations remain well-anchored.*PNA

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