Inflation hits fresh five-yr high of 4.6%

INFLATION accelerated to a new five-year high in May but the 4.6 percent result — up from 4.5 percent a month earlier — was lower than expected, raising expectations that price increases were nearing their peak.

It settled at the lower end of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) 4.6-5.4 percent forecast range and was also lower than the Finance department’s 4.9-percent estimate and the 4.8-percent average in a Manila Times poll of economics.