President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. has admitted that the country's inflation is "running rampant" and "out of control" but remains optimistic that the economy continues to recover.
"Although our growth rate looks healthy, our peso has become a little stronger, our unemployment rate is quite reasonable considering the situation, however on the other side of that coin, there is still inflation that is running rampant and out of control," Marcos said as he spoke at the 11th Arangkada Philippines forum on Tuesday, Dec. 6.
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), inflation surged to 8 percent in November.
Marcos said they are now looking into the "drivers of the inflation" which, he claimed, was "imported inflation."
"We just received the poor news from the PSA that in November, we hit 8 percent. And we are now trying to identify the areas of the economy that are the main drivers of that inflation," Marcos said.
"The main drivers of that inflation, unfortunately, are still imported. So, again import substitution is still a good idea not only for foreign exchange reserve but also so that we can keep our inflation rate down," Marcos added.
Despite the development, the President expressed confidence that the Philippine economy continues to recover from the impacts of the pandemic, stressing that the country is on track in maintaining its strong economic performance.
"I'm happy to be able to inform you that the Philippine economy continues to recover from the negative impact of the pandemic. In fact the country is on track to maintain its strong economic performance and achieve the government's target of 6.5 percent to 7.5 percent for 2022," he said.
The chief executive, in his speech, reiterated that the government is committed to further boost economic growth, with overall goals of poverty reduction and reinvigorating job creation.
He further said that the government aims to accelerate the country’s economic growth by further easing travel and mobility restrictions, implementing economic reforms, and improving economic cooperation with trade and investment partners.