Marcos remains hopeful on economy as inflation eases in Feb.

FILE: President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Wednesday said setting up a Philippine sovereign wealth fund is a “good idea” to leverage government assets and pursue big-ticket infrastructure projects, particularly in energy and agriculture. (PCO Photo)

MANILA – President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Tuesday said he remains hopeful about the country’s economy as inflation eased to 8.6 percent in February from 8.7 percent in January this year.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) attributed the easing inflation to the slowdown of transport-related prices including gasoline, diesel and motorcycles, among others to 9 percent from 11.1 percent in January 2023.

“Nananatili tayong puno ng pag-asa para sa ating ekonomiya lalo na’t bahagyang bumaba sa 8.6 percent ang ating inflation rate sa kabila ng inaasahang pagtaas nito sa mga susunod na buwan (We continue to be full of hope for our economy especially since our inflation rate dropped slightly to 8.6 percent despite the expected increase in the coming months),” Marcos said in his official Facebook page and Twitter account.

He assured that the government will continue to implement measures to temper the prices of basic goods and services.

Marcos said his administration will also continue to provide subsidies to Filipinos in the most vulnerable sectors.

“Tuloy-tuloy lang ang ating mga hakbang para pababain pa ang presyo ng bilihin at alalayan ang mamamayang Pilipino (We continue to take steps to lower the prices of goods and provide support to the Filipino people),” he said.

Earlier in the day, Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno announced that the government will soon release a PHP1,000 cash aid under the extended Targeted Cash Transfer (TCT) program to help some 9.3 million households cope with high inflation.

The TCT program will grant cash transfers to the most affected households in the amount of PHP500 for two months.

Diokno said the PHP1,000 two-month cash aid will come from the PHP26.6 billion allocation for subsidies to vulnerable sectors.

Apart from the PHP1,000 two-month cash aid, he said the government will also provide subsidies under the Fertilizer Discount Voucher program, Fuel Discount for Farmers and Fisher-folk program and Fuel Subsidy to the Transport Sector Affected by the Rising Fuel Prices.

Diokno also announced that Marcos formed an inter-agency committee that will focus on the country’s inflation and market outlook, and oversees the government’s response to rising prices.

The Cabinet-level Inter-Agency Committee on Inflation and Market Outlook will be co-chaired by Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno and National Economic and Development Authority Secretary Arsenio Balisacan.

Other short-term measures that aim to mitigate inflation include addressing supply issues and ensuring an affordable and reliable energy supply.

In a virtual press conference on Tuesday, PSA Undersecretary Dennis Mapa said prices of goods and services remain elevated despite the slowdown in inflation.

He said out of the 13 commodity groups, only transport recorded slower inflation in the previous month.

Despite the easing of the inflation rate for transport, the group is one of the top three contributors to the increase in prices of goods and services in February.

The group is only behind food and non-alcoholic beverages with February inflation of 10.8 percent and sharing 47.5 percent of the total inflation last month.

Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels with inflation of 8.6 percent and contributing 21.4 percent to the national inflation in February.