MEDIUM RARE 

While the great majority of us try to understand – or undermine, from a position of non-understanding – the meaning and effect on consumers of that mysterious word “inflation,” the fact is that business has been good for Big Business.

Unlike the nay-sayers who don’t like the thought of other people succeeding, I rejoice in the money-making corporations’ ability to post massive profits in the first half of 2023, just a short period after the nightmare of Covid-19. After all, profits mean they will keep their employees (and keep them happy) while training new ones; they will continue paying their taxes; they could even improve on and expand/extend their CSR (corporate social responsibility) projects.

A quick glance at the business pages last weekend showed more positive news than losses, although the GDP (gross domestic product) went down from 6.4 to 4.3 percent due to government underspending and higher central bank interest rates; higher prices of food and petroleum; and the damage to farming and infrastructure left by two typhoons. I can only guess that a 2.1 percent difference between GDP and 6 percent inflation means a 4 percent pain in the wallet for consumers.

For now I shall merely repeat what every man on the street and every budget-conscious housewife have to say about living with inflation: “Barya barya lang.” In plain English, if inflation has been going down, they don’t feel it except as small change. One example: The daily minimum wage increase of ₱4 in Metro Manila was wiped out by higher fares charged by public transport and higher fuel prices for the middle class owners of cars.

Here’s a quick look at some of the most prosperous gains:

First Gen. Corp., 30 percent up, from ₱7 billion last year to ₱9 billion.

Global Ferronickel Holdings, 48 percent up, from ₱417 million to ₱625 million.

Bloomberry Resorts, a surge of 160 percent from ₱2.5 billion to ₱6.4 billion.

PAL triples earnings from ₱4 billion to ₱14 billion.

Cebu Air, from ₱1.9 billion loss to net income of ₱2.7 billion.

Ayala Corp. profits jump 55 percent to ₱20.5 billion.

SM Investments, 32 percent up, from ₱27.7 billion to ₱36.5 billion.

JG Summit earns nearly seven times, from ₱1.4 billion to ₱9.5 billion.

Bank of Commerce 79 percent up, from ₱887 million to ₱1.6 billion.

Megaworld up 31 percent from ₱6.7 billion to ₱8.8 billion.

To be rich is glorious. – Deng Xiaoping