The Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) has forecasted a higher inflation rate of 3.5 to 5.5 percent in 2010 compared to the average inflation rate of 3.2 percent in 2009.

NEDA director-general Augusto Santos noted that the 2009 inflation rate was significantly lower than the 2008 inflation of 9.3 percent and within the DBCC forecast of 2.5 to 4.5 percent for 2009.

The inflation rate in December 2009 remained lower at 4.4 percent compared to 8.0 percent in December 2008.

Santos also noted that prices of commodities have been increasing slowly since August 2009 when the inflation rate was 0.1 percent.

For the third month in a row, month-on-month inflation was at 0.6 percent due to higher meat, fuel, and transportation prices.