The Philippines’ headline inflation or overall inflation increased to 4.1 percent in March 2026 from 2.4 percent in February 2026 as fuel prices skyrocket, based on Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data.
The higher March inflation brings the average inflation rate for the first quarter of the year to 2.8 percent. In March 2025, the inflation rate was observed at 1.8 percent.
The uptrend in the overall inflation in March 2026 was primarily influenced by the annual increment of the transport index at 9.9 percent during the month from an annual decrease 0.3 percent in February 2026.
Also contributing to the uptrend of the overall inflation is the food and non-alcoholic beverages index with a faster annual increase of 3.0 percent in March 2026 from 1.8 percent in the previous month.
In addition, faster annual increases were observed in the indices of the following commodity groups — alcoholic beverages; clothing and footwear; housing, water, electricity; Furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance; health; recreation; and, restaurants and accommodation.
Notably, transportation inflation leapt to 9.9 percent. The
highest transpo was recorded in January 2023 at 11.1 percent also caused by fuel price increases due the Russian war in Ukraine.
Moving forward, PSA expects the April inflation would definitely be higher because of series of prices increases in fuel products.
