National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary Arsenio Balisacan believes that the Philippines is “on track” to reach its target of slower inflation rate this year owing to the downward trend observed recently.

Speaking to reporters, the country’s socioeconomic planning secretary said on Friday, June 2, that the inflation rate is on the “downtrend” although official figures would only be released by Tuesday next week.

“I think we are, kaya (so) we will announce that next week. Yeah, I think that casually, we observed the moments of crisis recently. I do believe that we are on the downtrend,” the official reported.

His remarks came during a press briefing in Malacañang after he attended the NEDA Board meeting chaired by President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.

“We are continuing with the downtrend. But we will know the number, I think on Tuesday next week,” Balisacan said.

On May 5, Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported that food prices continued to accelerate at a slower pace, which pushed down the inflation rate to 6.6 percent in April.

This is a decrease from March’s 7.6 percent and February’s 8.6 percent.

In April, the downward trend was supported by the moderation in food inflation. Vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas, and pulses were the main drivers of the lower food inflation rate of 10 percent in April from 20 percent in the previous month.

This is followed by fish and other seafood at seven percent and meat and other parts of slaughtered land animals at 4.2 percent

Core inflation, which excludes selected volatile food and energy items, also slowed down to 7.9 percent in April from eight percent in March. This brought the average core inflation for the first four months of the year to 7.8 percent.

The government’s economic team aim to push the country’s inflation rate to just two to four percent.

Source:
courtesy of MANILA BULLETIN

by RAYMUND ANTONIO

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