MANILA - Surging food and energy prices in the Philippines pushed the inflation rate in April to 8.3 percent, the highest level in three years, the government said yesterday.

The National Statistics Office said "all the commodity groups at the national level continued to record higher annual price increases," with the food sector alone incurring a 12 percent inflation rate.

The April 2008 figure was the highest inflation rate recorded since May 2005 when inflation hit 8.5 percent, it said in a statement.

April's rate far exceeded central bank forecasts of between 6.4 and 7.0 percent and economists' previous estimates of about 6.8 percent.

Inflation rose 6.4 percent in March.

The April figure brought the average inflation for the first four months of 2008 to 6.2 percent, far above the central bank's full-year target range of between 3.0 and 5.0 percent.

Rice, the national staple saw a 24.6-percent price rise in April with corn, other cereals and dairy products also incurring double-digit rates.

Excluding selected food and energy items, core inflation rose to 5.9 percent in April compared to 4.8 percent in March.

The Philippines, one of the world's largest rice importers, has been hit hard by worldwide rise in the price of rice.

The government has been planning to import up to 2.7 million tons of rice this year but on Monday, it rejected an offer for 675,000 tons from Vietnam.*AFP

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