Philippine annual inflation at 1.7% in October

(Corrects headline to add number)

MANILA (Reuters) -Philippine annual inflation stood at 1.7% in October, unchanged from the previous month, the statistics agency said on Wednesday.

Last month’s inflation was below the 1.8% median forecast in a Reuters poll, and brought the year-to-date average inflation to 1.7%, below the central bank’s 2.0% to 4.0% target for the year.

Excluding volatile food and energy costs, core inflation eased to 2.5% in October from the prior month’s 2.6%.

(Reporting by Mikhail Flores and Karen Lema; Editing by David Stanway)