BY ONLINE BALITA NEWS
Finance Secretary Ralph G. Recto has expressed optimism that the inflation rate will remain within the government’s target band in 2024 after its decline in June, with the persistent implementation of whole-of-government interventions to ensure that the purchasing power of every Filipino is protected.
“We expect inflation to fall within our 2% to 4% target this year especially after the government has taken decisive and data-driven steps to control the rising price of rice. This will help alleviate the burden of high rice prices that disproportionately affect the poor and vulnerable households,” the Finance chief said.
The inflation rate fell to 3.7% in June 2024 from 3.9% in May and is significantly lower than the median estimate of 3.9% by private sector analysts for the month.
This is also within the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP)’s forecast of 3.4% to 4.2% for June.
Year-to-date, the inflation rate remains at 3.5%, well within the government’s target band.
The June inflation rate dropped mainly due to the sharper slowdown of electricity prices at -13.6% from -8.5% in the previous month.
This led to a substantial slowdown in the inflation rate of housing and utilities to 0.1% in June from 0.9% in May.
Transport inflation likewise decelerated (3.1% from 3.5%) due to slower price increases in gasoline (2.3% from 5.2%).
A decline in inflation was also recorded for restaurants and accommodation services (5.1% from 5.3%).
While food inflation slightly increased to 6.5% in June from 6.1% in May, the government expects this to slow down once the rice tariff is lowered to 15% from 35%, as embodied in Executive Order (EO) No. 62. This is expected to pull down rice prices by 10%.
EO 62 also maintained the reduced tariff rates on corn, pork, and mechanically deboned meat under EO Nos. 50 and EO 13, s. 2023 until 2028 to further mitigate food inflation, foster policy stability and investment planning, and enhance food security.
This month, the Department of Agriculture (DA) is set to release the implementing guidelines under Administrative Order (AO) No. 20. This seeks to enhance the country’s agricultural importation policy regime by streamlining administrative processes and removing non-tariff barriers.
The DA also launched its large-scale trial of the Bigas 29 program (P29) in ten Kadiwa sites in Metro Manila and Bulacan, offering rice for PHP 29 per kilo to poor families and other vulnerable groups.
By August, the DA aims to double the total number of Kadiwa sites selling subsidized rice and expand their reach to include locations in Visayas and Mindanao.
OnlineBalita news 