Philippine inflation eased for the fourth straight month in August while staying above the central bank’s target, on slower increases in utility rates and food prices. Consumer prices rose 6.1% last month from a year earlier, the Philippine Statistics Authority said on Friday. That matched the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey and compared with 6.2% inflation in July.

The slower pace of inflation will be welcome news for the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, which last week delivered its third successive quarter point rate hike and has signaled its readiness to tighten further. The central bank forecast August inflation in a range of 5.5%-6.5%. Still, the latest inflation print remains well over the BSP’s 3% target for the year.

Global and domestic headwinds resulted in the Philippines delivering the second-weakest growth and the fastest inflation among major Southeast Asian economies in the second quarter, while its currency also became Asia’s worst-performer this year. The Southeast Asian economy imports more than 90% of its oil needs from the Middle East, making it particularly vulnerable to supply disruptions and volatile price swings like those from the US war on Iran.