President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. said on Monday, April 24, s it would take a “little time” for it to stabilize the country's economy as his administration begins institutionalizing changes. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. (Photo from Presidential Communications Office)
During an online interview with Erwin Tulfo and Niña Corpus, the Chief Executive explained that his directives and instructions won’t instantaneously give positive results in just a day. “Kung minsan it takes a little time, na ‘yung buong istruktura ng ekonomiya binabago natin. Darating at darating ang panahon na maging kalma na ‘yan, mag-stable na ‘yan (Sometimes, it takes a little time, that we are changing the whole structure of the economy. Time will come that it will be calmer, it will stabilize),” he said. He also expressed optimism that the inflation rate will slow down while his administration monitors the economies of other countries, such as the United States, China, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore. Marcos shared that he wants to learn from the best practices and knowledge of these other countries. “So, I’m very happy at kailangan na kailangan ko ang suporta ng tao dahil hindi madali itong ating ginagawa (So, I’m very happy and I need the support of the people because what we are doing is not easy),” he added. The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported the slight decrease in inflation rate from 8.6 percent in Feb. to 7.6 percent in March. March’s slower inflation was primarily due to slower price increase in food and non-alcoholic beverages (9.3 percent from 10.8 percent); transport (5.3 percent from 9 percent ); and housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels (7.6 percent from 8.6 percent). However, core inflation, which excludes volatile items like food and energy, increased to 8 percent in March from 7.8 percent in February. Though the inflation rate has slowed down for March 2023, this is a far cry from the government’s economic team aim to push it to 2 percent to 4 percent.