The Philippines’ headline inflation accelerated to 7.2% in September 2026 from 6.1% in August, ending four consecutive months of easing inflation, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

The September figure was the highest since April, when inflation also reached 7.2%. It brought the average inflation rate from January to September to 5.4%, compared with 1.7% in September 2025.

_{In Photos: Headline Inflation graph from Philippine Statistics Authority}

The increase was mainly driven by faster price growth in food and non-alcoholic beverages, which rose to 6.7% from 4.6% in August.

Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels also recorded faster inflation at 8.4% from 7.9%, while transport inflation increased to 14.6% from 13.5%.

Food inflation accelerated to 6.8% in September from 4.6% in August, primarily due to higher prices of vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas and pulses, which posted a 10.7% annual increase after declining 3.4% in August.

Rice inflation also rose to 20.3% from 19.4%, while fish and other seafood increased to 7.4% from 6.6%. Fruits and nuts rose to 8.7% from 5.8%.

Food and non-alcoholic beverages accounted for the largest share of overall inflation at 35.8%, equivalent to 2.6 percentage points. Housing and utilities contributed 1.7 percentage points, while transport contributed 1.3 percentage points.

Core inflation, which excludes selected food and energy items, also increased to 4.7% from 4.1% in August and 2.6% in September 2025.