The country's inflation rate slowed down to 3.9 percent in December, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) announced on Friday, Dec. 5.

According to the statistics bureau, the 3.9 percent recorded this month is the lowest for 2023, bringing the average inflation for 2023 to 6 percent.

The inflation rate in December was within the 3.6 to 4.4 percent range forecast by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. In November of this year, the inflation rate was 4.1 percent.

In December 2022, inflation was pretty high at 8.1 percent.

PSA said that the downtrend in overall inflation in December 2023 was primarily brought about by the lower year-on-year growth in the index of housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels at 1.5 percent in December 2023 from 2.5 percent in the previous month.

This was followed by food and non-alcoholic beverages, with 5.4 percent inflation during the month, up from 5.7 percent in November 2023.

In a survey by Pulse Asia in September, continuous inflation was the most urgent concern for Filipinos.