The Philippine inflation rate is projected to settle between the range of 5.3 percent to 6.1 percent in June 2023, the Banko Sentral of the Philippines (BSP) said on Friday.

In a press release, BSP said among the key contributors to the core inflation trend are higher costs of foods, particularly rice, vegetables, and fish.

Also contributing to the inflation rate in June 2023 is the increase in domestic oil prices and electricity rates as well as the depreciation of the peso against the dollar.

But the central bank noted that factors like lower prices of meat and fruits as well as the rollback in Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) prices could counter the inflation rate in June 2023.

“Going forward, BSP will continue to monitor developments affecting the outlook for inflation and growth in line with its data-dependent approach to monetary policy formulation,” it said.

The country’s inflation rate has slowed down for the fourth consecutive month in May 2023 at 6.1 percent, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) earlier reported. Contributing to this rate is the annual decline in the prices of food and transportation.

Department of Finance (DOF) Secretary Benjamin Diokno earlier said that monetary officials anticipate that the inflation rate will fall within the government's target range of 2 percent to 4 percent by the last quarter of 2023.

He also said that the inflation rate in the country is expected to decrease below 2 percent in the first quarter of 2024.