MANILA, June 4 : Philippine headline inflation in May will be "definitely lower" than April's 6.6%, and expected to ease further to below 4% by September or October, the central bank chief said recently.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Felipe Medalla also said he expects inflation to go below 2% by January next year, and average under the mid-point of the target for the entire year.

Medalla's remarks to reporters on the sidelines of a business forum on Monday come ahead of the June 6 release of the May inflation data.

Inflation eased for a third successive month in April.

Medalla on May 18 signaled a continued pause in the BSP's monetary policy tightening after it kept its benchmark interest rate steady, following a series of rate hikes totaling 425 basis points to curb inflation.

The Philippine government also posted a budget surplus of 66.8 billion Philippine pesos (US$1.21 billion) in April, versus a surplus of 4.9 billion pesos in the same month last year, the Bureau of the Treasury said in a statement last week.

 - Reuters