Consumer prices quickened at a much faster pace last month due to costlier food items.
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported Tuesday, Sept. 7, that headline inflation clocked in at 4.9 percent in August, faster than the 4.0 percent seen in the previous month and 2.4 percent in the same month in 2020.
The latest inflation number was also at the upper end of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ forecast range of 4.1 percent to 4.9 percent for August.
Year-to-date inflation stood at 4.4 percent, above the government’s full-year target band of 2.0 percent to 4.0 percent.
Based on the PSA data, inflation was primarily pushed up by higher annual uptick of the heavily-weighted food and non-alcoholic beverages settling at 6.5 percent from 4.9 percent a month earlier.
Food inflation continued its uptrend at 6.9 percent. In particular, fish prices accelerated to 12.4 percent, while vegetable rose to 15.7 percent due to the impact of the southwest monsoon and onset of the rainy season.
Moreover, meat inflation slightly inched up to 16.4 percent. However, it slowed down on a month-on-month basis to -0.4 percent suggesting some price stabilization.
Retail prices of frozen and fresh pork have fallen by around P19 to P38 per kilo from their peak. Rice inflation also remained negative at -0.4 percent year-on-year.
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua said that consumers are now beginning to see the impact of the government’s proactive interventions to ease food prices, especially pork and rice.
“The government will continue to adjust and strengthen its policies to ensure that the people have access to affordable food amid the pandemic,” Chua said in a statement.
At the same time, the Department of Agriculture (DA) is intensifying its hog repopulation program to address the supply gap in domestic production and address the elevated pork inflation, he said.
Meanwhile, to ensure stable fish supply, the DA issued Administrative Order No. 22, approving a Certificate of Necessity to Import (CNI) fish of 60,000 metric tons up to December 31, 2021.
The DA is also preparing to increase the CNI should the initial imports not be sufficient to curb fish inflation. This is part of the government’s proactive monitoring to ensure sufficient supply and stable prices during the closed fishing season.
To support vegetable production, the government will further promote urban agriculture and backyard gardening.
Under these initiatives, the government will provide raw material resources, machinery and equipment, training and technical assistance, resiliency projects, and funding support.
Chua added that as granular lockdowns are implemented to curb the spread of COVID-19 due to the Delta variant, we should keep enabling key sectors of the economy to operate and ensure essential goods and services reach consumers.
“Keeping transportation available and affordable, while still following minimum public health standards, will help facilitate the movement of people, goods, and services. All these will allow people to safely earn income and keep prices stable,” he said.