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Manila Bulletin devider Business devider Inflation dip misses low-income families

Inflation dip misses low-income families

In December

Published Jan 5, 2024 06:50 am

At A Glance

  • Inflation for the poorest 30% of households rose to 5.0% in December from 4.9% in November. Though, this is an improvement from 9.4% in December 2022.<br>A household was considered poor if its monthly income was less than P14,655, according to the PSA's 2021 Annual Family Income and Expenditure Survey.<br>Inflation for low-income families outpaced the headline rate, primarily driven by higher costs of food and non-alcoholic beverages, which increased to 7.4%.<br>Transport and health costs also saw higher annual increases.<br>At the national level, food inflation for the bottom 30% income households remained at 7.4%.

The country saw its lowest inflation rate of the year in December, but unfortunately, low-income Filipino families did not reap the benefits of this downturn, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed.

The PSA's data revealed that the inflation rate for the poorest 30 percent of households rose to 5.0 percent last month from 4.9 percent in November, although it was an improvement from the 9.4 percent recorded in December 2022.

In 2021, the PSA's Annual Family Income and Expenditure Survey identified a household as poor if its monthly income was less than P14,655.

For these low-income families, inflation outpaced the headline rate, which dropped to 3.9 percent in the final month of 2023.

The inflation in this income group was primarily driven by higher costs of food and non-alcoholic beverages, which increased to 7.4 percent from 7.2 percent the previous month.

Additionally, transport and health also posted higher annual increases last month, with transport rising to 1.5 percent from 0.9 percent, and health increasing to 3.2 percent from 3.1 percent in November.

At the national level, food inflation for the bottom 30 percent income households remained at 7.4 percent.

In Metro Manila, inflation for the bottom 30 percent income households took a breather, easing to 4.2 percent from 4.9 percent in November. This marks a significant improvement from a year ago, when inflation in the area was at a high 8.4 percent.

The downward trend in inflation was mainly driven by a slower increase in housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels, which stood at 5.8 percent during the month from 8.1 percent in November

Additionally, contributing to the decline was a lower increase in the food and non-alcoholic beverages index, which settled at 3.4 percent from 4.0 percent in the previous month.

Meanwhile, mirroring the national pattern, inflation for the bottom 30 percent income households in areas outside Metro Manila followed an upward trajectory, hitting 5.0 percent in from 4.9 percent in November.

This is in contrast to the 9.4 percent recorded in December 2022 for this income group.

The acceleration due to the higher year-on-year increment in the heavily-weighted food and non-alcoholic beverages, which registered at 7.5 percent in December from 7.3 percent a month ago.

Additionally, the faster increase in transport at 1.4 percent during the month from 0.8 percent in the previous month, also contributed to the uptick in inflation in the area.

In 2023, inflation for the poorest Filipino households was 6.7 percent, up from 6.6 percent in the previous year.

Related Tags

Consumer prices Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) Poverty incedence
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