Business and Economy
Inflation rises to 4% in March
MANILA – Oil price upticks in the international market due largely to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine resulted in the surge of the country’s inflation rate last March to 4 percent from month-ago’s 3 percent.
This brought the average inflation in the first quarter this year to 3.4 percent, within the government’s 2-4 percent target range until 2024.
In a Viber message to journalists on Tuesday, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Benjamin Diokno said “inflation expectations have likewise risen, but continue to be anchored to the 2-4 percent target band.”
Increases in oil prices and their impact on commodity prices in both the international and domestic markets made Philippine monetary authorities hike the government’s average inflation forecast for this year to 4.3 and 3.6 percent for 2023. These were previously at 3.7 percent for 2022 and 3.3 percent for 2023.
Diokno said “the economic consequences of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have become a significant headwind in global economic recovery.”
He said this development may impact the domestic economy through “slower world GDP (gross domestic product) growth, higher crude oil prices, higher world non-oil prices, and potential second-round effects on inflation through transport fares, wages, and food prices.”
“Under these circumstances, the BSP will closely monitor the emerging risks to the outlook for inflation and growth, and remain vigilant against possible second-round effects from supply-side pressures or any shifts in the public’s inflation expectations,” he said.
Diokno said the central bank “continues to have a wide arsenal of policy instruments to respond to possible adverse impact of external shocks.”
“The BSP likewise supports the timely implementation of direct non-monetary measures by the government to mitigate the impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict on global oil and non-oil commodity prices,” he said, adding “previous episodes of supply-side shocks in the country have shown that these are best addressed through timely non-monetary policy interventions that could ease directly domestic supply constraints and prevent second-round effects on prices.”
Sunshine C. Hila
April 5, 2022 at 10:20 AM
Its hard for all of us.Having such problem like oil price hike is a huge problem not only for us but for the rest of the world.I just hope that the war will stop soon not only because of the inflation but also for the people of Ukraine and Russia who truly suffer from this war . I hope that they will come up with the solution to their problem because war is not a solution.It will only worsen the situation.But knowing President Putin in the news I dont think it will stop now.Lets just pray for this to stop for we can all escape from this situation. ♥️
Hannah Sheila
April 6, 2022 at 8:28 AM
I think this concern would be the perfect hurdle that the future government should look into. If we want to have better lives therefore we should elect officials that would combat inflation because inflation of goods affects all financial aspects of a filipino individual, we may think that it’s just the fuel now but soon after the prices of our day to day essentials would inflate as well if the newly elect officials wount prioritize this.
MARIA TERESA BELMIN
April 6, 2022 at 6:57 PM
Hindi pa man nga tayo nakakabangon mula sa epekto na dulot ng COVID19,eto naman ang isang problema na kinakaharap natin habang nasa panahon pa tayo ng pandemya.Kaliwat kanan na pagtaas ng mga produktong petrolyo na idinulot ng pagsakop ng RUSSIA sa UKRAINE.Pati mga pangunahing bilihin nagtataasan na rin ang presyo pati ang pamasahe sa mga pampublikong transportasyon tinataasan na rin.Sa gantong sitwasyon lahat tayo apektado pero mas maaapektohan at umaaray sa pagtaas ng mga presyo ay tayong mahihirap at walang ibang pinagkukunan ng income.Sobrang mabigat na sa bulsa lalo sa mga low income family ang gumastos ng malaking halaga para sa mga basic needs nila kaso no choice sila kase kailangan nila ma provide mga pangangailangan nila sa araw araw kaya kaht mahal ang mga bilihin titiisin na lang nila kesa wala sila makain.Magbudget na lang para mapagkasya ang konsumo para sa pamilya.Sana magawan ng solusyon ng pamahalaan ang problemang ito kase kawawa tayo kung patuloy na tataas at magmamahal ang presyo ng mga pangunahing bilihin.
Gian Michael De Polonia
April 7, 2022 at 1:19 AM
Inflation pushes all the price of Goods but never the price of the wages/salaries while Companies are setting high income levels. What’s new? Its already been happening for six years.
Vee Jay Lee
April 7, 2022 at 11:00 AM
higher inflation rate is bad news specially for families that are not in higher budgets. It really affected jeepney drivers as their job is based on the number of passengers plus the added taxes, increase fuel prices.this is really sad and all of us are affected because it will increase the value we bought from all store but our money still remain its value
Mary Joy Valdevieso
April 7, 2022 at 9:17 PM
If we will look back at the history, we can tell that every happenings in the world that affects different countries can also affect the monetary policy of a certain country. And now because of the war between Russia and Ukraine the inflation increases including here in the Philippines. The whole country is affected by the price hikes especially in the fuel, because all of the business operations in the country uses fuels, gasoline in producing their goods and delivering service. As a result of this the other products and services will also increase in prices. This is also the reason why the employees are asking for an increase in their salary because the prices of their needs are also increasing. How can they provide these things if the only thing that is increasing is their necessities but not their income. We are widely affected by the Pandemic that began at the the end of 2019 and until now we still experienced the impact of it, and now this war between Russia and Ukraine also causes us difficulties. So frustrating but we need to face it and be wise of our decisions in our life.