Finance Secretary Ralph Recto is pegging this month’s inflation rate at 2.5 percent, tamer than the 3.3 percent August rate.

''For September, our expectation is roughly 2.5 percent. It's a range between 2.1 [and] 2.9, the midpoint is roughly 2.5,'' Recto said at a Palace press briefing on Tuesday.

Further, he said he is poised that the country would meet the target for inflation this month.

However, the Finance chief stressed that inflation could spike in the fourth quarter, ''but still within the range of 3.1% to 3.9%.'' 

Last August’s 3.3 percent rate, which is sluggish versus July’s 4.4 percent, was attributable to slower increases in food and transportation costs, according to National Statistician and Philippine Statistics Authority chief Claire Dennis Mapa.

National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary Arsenio Balisacan, meanwhile, disclosed that the sustained easing of inflation would support growth in household consumption, adding that low-income households will benefit from the decline in food inflation.

He said the reduced tariffs on imported rice were also one of the reasons why there is a continued downward trend in the country’s inflation.

Given this, there are still some potential pressures that could emerge affecting the inflation to fluctuate, namely higher electricity rates as well as above-normal weather disturbances.

Meanwhile, Recto also said the Monetary Board, on which he sits as chairperson, can afford to slash interest rates further to 50 percent, equaling the size of the US Federal Reserve's rate cut.

"The Fed reduced by 50 basis points. I think we can also do half a percent," Recto said.

However, Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation chief economist Michael Ricafort, for his part, estimates September inflation at 2.6 percent year-on-year.