President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. said on Wednesday that the continuous consolidation of all the elements in the value and supply chain is key to further bringing down the inflation rate in the country.
In a media interview after attending the opening of the 6th edition of the Livestock Philippines 2023 at the World Trade Center in Pasay City, President Marcos cited the importance of consolidating all the components of the value chain to sustain economic growth.
The chief executive also noted that one of the biggest contributors to the headline inflation rate is agricultural commodities.
“Talagang nagtaasan ‘yan noong Enero, Pebrero, ay agricultural products ay isang napakalaking bahagi nung ating inflation rate. Kaya naman itong mga ganitong klaseng mga komperensiya, ganitong klaseng pagsasama..to exchange ideas na ginagawa ngayon, ito ay mahalaga dahil we are helping the agricultural (sector) — the producers of agricultural commodities to lower the price, make more efficient all their production, and also to take full advantage of the new technologies,” the President said.
“Nakita naman natin ‘yung nandoon ‘yung mga naka-display. Hindi lamang ‘yung mga makinarya. Hindi lamang ‘yung mga infrastructure, kung hindi pati na ‘yung mga breeding…paano ‘yung mga pag-consolidate. All of these are what we are trying to put together,” he added.
The President also pointed out that his administration has managed to stabilize the prices of sugar in the market with a clear schedule of importation.
“Like for sugar, for example, was a very, very high component of our inflation rate. Now, we have been able to stabilize the price of sugar by making a very clear schedule of importation, making a very clear schedule of assignment of the importation and where it goes to industrial (use), if it goes to food,” he said.
“This is a kind of thing that is helping bring down the inflation rate. That’s why, doing this, improving the technologies, helping our farmers at both ends of that value chain, there is an advantage because the farmers will make more money because they’re spending less because they are more efficient,” added the President, who also serves as Agriculture chief.
Coupled with these strategies, President Marcos reiterated that his administration will try to bring down prices of agricultural products by ramping up production and making it more efficient.
“And again, the value chain that I’m always talking about, ad infinitum already but it’s really the answer,” the President quipped.
Based on the figures released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the headline inflation rate further slowed to 5.4 percent in June 2023 from 6.1 percent in May 2023 as food and non-food inflation continued decelerating.
Core inflation also declined to 7.4 percent from 7.7 percent last month. The month-on-month seasonally adjusted inflation eased to 0.1 percent (from 0.3 percent in May).
The PSA also said that food inflation declined to 6.7 percent in June 2023 from 7.5 percent in the previous month due to slower inflation of meat (0.3% from 3.2%), eggs and dairy products (11.2% from 12.1%), bread and other cereals (11.0% from 11.4%), and sugar (28.9% from 31.6%).
Meat inflation decelerated as beef (4.4% from 5.3%) registered lower inflation, while chicken (-0.9% from 5.9%) and pork (-2.6% from -1.0%) recorded a deflation.
“The continuous arrival of pork imports, through Executive Order 10, s. 2022, enhanced local supply while the African swine fever situation in the country continues to improve,” the PSA noted.
The PSA said non-food inflation, on the other hand, decelerated to 4.1 percent in June 2023 from 5.0 percent in May amid slower inflation of housing rentals (5.6% from 5.7%), electricity, gas and other fuels (5.2% from 7.1%) and further deflation in private transport (-23.2% from -18.4%) as inflation of diesel (-32.7% from -27.6%), gasoline (-24.0% from -18.5%), liquified petroleum gas (-20.2 from -19.2%) continued to decline.
“Similarly, passenger transport services decreased (11.2% from 12.4%), as inflation of road (11.4% from 12.8%) and air (24.6% from 24.9%) transport moderated, with the former owing to base effects. Meanwhile, the inflation of accommodation and food services slightly eased (8.2% from 8.3%),” it said.
In a memorandum for the President, National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said that during the 2nd Inter-Agency Committee on Inflation and Market Outlook (IAC-IMO) Meeting of the Sub-Committee on Food Inflation, the subcommittee provided recommendations to augment local supply.
Among these included the issuance of a policy on the automatic approval of the Sanitary and Phytosanitary Import Clearance (SPSIC) for onion when concerned agencies fail to act within a prescribed period, which is similar to the rules being imposed on rice under the Rice Tariffication Law.
The subcommittee also recommended the issuance of a sugar order, authorizing the importation of an additional 100,000 metric tons (MT) of refined sugar such that the imports should arrive by the third quarter of this year and the import program should be open to industrial users and consumers of refined sugar that are duly registered with the Sugar Regulatory Administration as international sugar traders.
The Sub-Committee on Non-Food Inflation is scheduled to meet within the week to discuss measures to address non-food inflation.PND
