The rise in prices was mostly due to an increase in the cost of food, beverages and tobacco, the National Statistics Office said.

But it added that the figure did not take into account the impact of last month's tropical storm Ketsana, which killed almost 300 people when it slammed into Manila.

A week later Typhoon Parma drowned large areas of farmland in the country's northern rice-growing regions and left at least 16 people dead.

The government placed the entire country under a state of calamity, releasing emergency funds while clamping down on predatory pricing.