Arroyo lauds inflation decline in December

FILE: House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo with President Rodrigo Duterte
(Photo: KING RODRIGUEZ/ Presidential Photo)

House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Saturday, January 5, hailed the data released by the Philippines Statistics Authority (PSA), showing a sign of easing in the country’s inflation crisis.

“It is good that inflation is on a downtrend,” Arroyo said.

On Friday, the PSA announced that the inflation rate or the increase in the prices of goods slowed down to 5.

1 percent in December 2018, Christmas season. This latest figure was 0.9 percent lower than the six percent recorded in November 2018.

[READ: PSA says inflation slowed down to 6% in November 2018]

The slowdown, the PSA said, was due to the slower annual increments in food and non-alcoholic beverages which is at 6.7 percent and transport at four percent.

It added that lower annual increases were also noted in alcoholic beverages and tobacco at 21.7 percent; housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels at 4.1 percent; furnishing, household equipment, and routine maintenance of the house at 3.

8 percent; and restaurant and miscellaneous goods and services at 4.3. percent.

December’s 5.1 percent was also lower than the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) forecast range of 5.

2 to six percent.

While pleased about last month’s figure, Arroyo still called on the government to “act quickly” in implementing its plans and programs so that the Filipino people will feel the result of such improvement in their everyday lives.

“The focus must now be on implementing things quickly and efficiently, in all fronts,” the House speaker and former Philippine president said.

“This is consistent with some Cabinet members’ call for vigorous implementation of the government’s infrastructure program. We must produce tangible results all around during the second half of the President’s term,” she added.

Despite the drop in the inflation rate, Malacañang earlier assured to the Filipinos that it will “not fall into complacency” in maintaining the country’s economic progress.

It also stressed that December’s inflation was slower because of the actions made by President Rodrigo Duterte such as his issuance of Administrative Order No. 13 “which streamlined procedures on the importation of agricultural products such as rice” and the Memorandum Order Nos. 26, 27, and 28 “which helped stabilize the prices of agriculture and fishery products at reasonable levels.”