MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines’ inflation rate continued its downward trend in May 2025, slowing to 1.3 percent from 1.4 percent in April. This marks the lowest inflation rate recorded since November 2019, when it stood at 1.2 percent.

The average inflation for the first five months of 2025 now rests at 1.9 percent, significantly lower than the 3.9 percent observed in May 2024.

The primary driver behind May’s decelerated inflation was the housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels index, which saw its annual increment ease to 2.3 percent from 2.9 percent in the preceding month.

Other significant contributors to the downtrend included:

• Restaurant and accommodation services, which slowed to 2.0 percent from 2.3 percent.
• The transport index, recording a faster annual decline at 2.4 percent, compared to a 2.1 percent drop in April.
• Furnishing, household equipment, and routine household maintenance, showing slower annual growth at 2.0 percent from 2.1 percent.

Conversely, a few commodity groups experienced higher inflation rates during the month:

• Alcoholic beverages and tobacco: 3.8 percent from 3.7 percent
• Information and communication: 0.4 percent from 0.3 percent
• Recreation, sport and culture: 2.2 percent from 2.1 percent
• Education services: 4.3 percent from 4.2 percent

All other commodity groups maintained their previous month’s annual growth rates, with financial services remaining at a zero percent annual rate.

Despite the overall slowdown, the top three contributors to the May 2025 overall inflation rate were:

• Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (37.1% share)
• Food and non-alcoholic beverages (25.7% share)
• Restaurants and accommodation services (15.5% share)

Meanwhile, food inflation at the national level remained steady at 0.7 percent in May 2025, significantly lower than the 6.1 percent recorded in May 2024. Food inflation contributed 18.7 percent to the overall inflation. The main contributors to food inflation were meat and other parts of slaughtered land animals (216.6% share), fish and other seafood (133.6% share), and milk, other dairy products, and eggs (55.8% share).