Rising inflation just temporary: Palace

MANILA – Malacañang on Saturday guaranteed that the government is implementing proactive measures to tame the rise in consumer prices.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque made the assurance after the country’s headline inflation further quickened to 4.7 percent in February from 4.2 percent in January.

February’s reading marked the highest inflation rate since January 2019, according to a statement by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

In a press statement, Roque said the uptick in the country’s inflation is just temporary.

“Our economic managers see the upward inflation trend as temporary and concerned agencies in the Executive branch continue to check the prices of basic commodities while ensuring that prevailing rates are likewise fair to suppliers,” he said.

The uptrend in last month’s inflation was driven by the rise in prices of heavily-weighted food and non-alcoholic beverages, which was at 6.7 percent in February, compared to 6.1 percent the previous month, the PSA reported.

The latest inflation rate was within the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ forecast range of 4.3 percent to 5.1 percent in February.

Roque assured that the government is taking steps to address the increasing prices of basic and prime commodities.

“We are intensifying efforts to ease inflation through immediate interventions, such as augmenting the supply of meat. We have implemented proactive measures,” he said.

The government’s interventions, Roque said, include President Rodrigo Duterte’s signing of Executive Order (EO) 124, which imposes a price ceiling on select pork and chicken products in Metro Manila for 60 days.

EO 124 implements a price cap of PHP270 per kg. for pork kasim and pigue, PHP300 per kg. for pork liempo, and PHP160 per kg. for dressed chicken.

Roque said the government is also procuring hogs from the Visayas and Mindanao and Luzon provinces that are free from African swine fever (ASF) for transport to major public markets in Metro Manila.

He added that there is also a transport subsidy for pork coming from different ASF-free areas.

The Department of Agriculture is also set to conduct a food security summit with local government units and the private sector to discuss ways to boost food production in the country.