Mainly driven by the higher prices of necessities like water and electricity, as well as the recent hike in transpiration fares and overall costs.
On Thursday, November 5, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) revealed that the headline inflation rate for the Philippines accelerated to 7.8 percent in October 2026.
That is 0.6 percentage points higher than the 7.2% rate recorded the month prior, and is more than 6 percentage points higher than the 1.7% rate registered in October 2025.
This development brought the country’s average inflation rate in the ten months of 2026 to 5.6 percent.
The PSA explained that the uptrend in the overall inflation rate in October 2026 was “primarily influenced by the faster annual increment in the transport index at 20.1 percent during the month from 14.6 percent in September 2026.”
Moreover, it also cited the reason forby the uptrend was due to the faster annual increase observed in the housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels index at 9.3 in October 2026, from 8.4 percent in the previous month, as another reason.
The statistics board noted that there were also faster annual increases in various commodity groips such as Alcoholic beverages and tobacco; Clothing and footwear; Furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance; Health; Recreation, sport and culture; Restaurants and accommodation services, and Personal care, and miscellaneous goods and services.
“On the other hand, the food and non-alcoholic beverages index recorded a lower year-on-year growth rate of 6.1 percent during the month from 6.7 percent in September 2026,” it added.
As regards to food inflation at the national level, it had a slower annual increase of 6.4 percent in October 2026 from 6.8 percent in the previous month. In October 2025, food inflation was even lower at 0.2 percent.
Core inflation, which excludes selected food and energy items, increased to 5.4 percent in October 2026 from 4.8 percent in September 2026. In contrast, the October 2025 core inflation rate was lower at 2.5 percent.
Similar to the trend at the national level, inflation rate in the National Caputal Region moved at a faster pace of 5.9 percent in October 2026 from 5.3 percent in the previous month. In October 2025, inflation rate in the area was recorded at 2.9 percent.
“The faster inflation rate in NCR was mainly influenced by the faster annual increase in the transport index at 17.2 percent in October 2026 from 11.5 percent in the previous month,” noted the PSA.
Meanwhile, areas outside the NCR saw overall inflation accelerate to 8.2 percent in October 2026 from 7.6 percent in September 2026. Inflation rate in the area was recorded at 1.3 percent in October 2025.
The acceleration of inflation in the area was also primarily caused by the faster annual increment in the transport index at 20.7 percent during the month from 15.2 percent in September 2026, as well as faster rates in the prices of housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels.
