US hiring surges back in February, adding 379,000 jobs

US hiring surges back in February, adding 379,000 jobs

DUBAI: Philippine consumer prices rose at their fastest pace in 26 months in February, with food and transport items leading the surge, the government's statistical agency said on Friday.

National headline inflation accelerated further to 4.7 percent in February, from 4.2 percent a month ago and 2.6 percent during the same period of last year. This is the highest uptick in consumer prices posted since January 2019, when the inflation rate hit 4.4 percent.

"The uptrend in the country's inflation was mainly brought about by the uptick in the inflation of the heavily-weighted food and non-alcoholic beverages at 6.7 percent during the month, from 6.1 percent in January 2021,“ the Philippine Statistics Authority said in a statement.

Also contributing to the uptrend were the higher annual increments in commodity groups including particularly transport and alcoholic beverages and tobacco, the agency added.

"Headline inflation breached the upper bound of the 2 percent - 4 percent target range of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas for a second consecutive month,“ ANZ Research said in an Asia note released on Friday.

"Volatile 'food' and 'transport' prices have been the key drivers, eking out gains on the back of supply disruptions,“ it added, noting a slack in the economy has