MANILA, May 5 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines' year-on-year headline inflation accelerated to 7.2 percent in April 2026 from 4.1 percent in March, driven mainly by a faster annual increase in food and non-alcoholic beverages and transport, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said on Tuesday.

"The uptrend in the overall inflation rate in April 2026 was primarily influenced by the faster annual increment in the heavily-weighted food and non-alcoholic beverages index at 6 percent during the month from 2.9 percent in March 2026," PSA Chief Claire Dennis Mapa said at a press conference.

Also contributing to the uptrend of the overall April inflation were the faster annual increases observed in the transport index at 21.4 percent in April 2026 from 9.9 percent in the previous month, and housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels at 8.2 percent during the month from 4.7 percent in the previous month, Mapa added. ■