MANILA – The national government is continuously stepping up efforts against persistent inflation drivers following the slight rise in the country’s headline inflation rate in May 2024, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Wednesday (June 5) that the headline inflation rate increased to 3.9 percent from 3.8 percent in April.
The slight inflation uptick resulted mainly from the higher year-on-year increase in the prices of housing and utilities for the month at 0.9 percent from 0.4 percent in April. A faster annual growth for the transport index was also recorded in May at 3.5 percent from 2.6 percent the previous month.
“The government will continue to implement lasting policy reforms to ensure we address the drivers of food and non-food inflation sustainably. We want to maintain a macroeconomic environment conducive to investment and high-quality job creation—an environment that would allow us to hit the Marcos Administration’s development targets by 2028,” NEDA Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan said.
Meanwhile, food inflation decelerated but is still elevated at 6.1 percent in May from 6.3 percent in April.
The slowdown of food inflation for the month was primarily due to the slower increase in the prices of vegetables, tubers, plantains, and cooking bananas to 2.7 percent in May from 4.3 percent in April.
Although still elevated, rice inflation decreased slightly to 23.0 percent for the month from 23.9 percent in April. The May inflation report recorded a zero percent inflation rate for fish and other seafood from 0.4 percent the previous year.
“To help manage food inflation, promote policy stability and investment planning, and enhance food security, the NEDA Board has agreed to reduce the rice duty rate to 15 percent from 35 percent for both in-quota and out-quota imports until 2028, “ the country’s chief economic planner said.
Balisacan added that the NEDA Board also approved the extension until 2028 of the reduced tariff rates on corn, pork, and mechanically deboned meat under Executive Order No. 50, s. 2023.
“The NEDA Board approved the new Comprehensive Tariff Program for 2024-2028, a strategic move to ensure access and affordability to essential commodities while balancing the interests of consumers, local producers, and the economy. At the same time, we recognize the need to help our farmers by modernizing our agricultural sector,” he said.
Balisacan further emphasized that one of the Marcos Administration’s priorities is to raise productivity so that the country can sustainably reduce food prices and shield our consumers and economy from the price volatility of food commodities in the global market.
“On the part of the Executive, we will continue to find supply-side solutions to help manage the price increases of other commodities and keep inflation within the target range in the months to come,” he said.
Also, to mitigate the impact of elevated food prices on the poor and vulnerable sector, the Department of Social Welfare and Development and relevant agencies are set to implement the Food Stamp Program nationwide in July fully. This program expects to cover one million households by 2027 from the initial 300,000 families in 10 regions.
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