The Marcos Administration vowed to sustain inflation deceleration measures to keep the prices of goods stable ahead of the holiday season, the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) said.

This came after the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Friday, Oct. 4, that the inflation rate further eased to 1.9 percent in September from 3.3 percent in August.

In a statement, the PCO said the government would sustain the measures in place to ensure that Filipinos would not have a hard time during the holiday season.

"Buoyed by the success of our plan, strategies on how to further decelerate inflation will be sustained," it said.

"As we enter the holiday season, the government will be vigilant in seeing to it that prices will be stabilized at a level that will not dampen the spirit of the season," it added.

Part of the government's strategy is to ramp up food production in conjunction with the targeted entry of food items that will plug supply gaps but be done promptly to discourage price and stock manipulation.

The September inflation rate brought the average inflation for the first nine months of 2024 to 3.4 percent. This is within the government's target of two to four percent.

"We are upbeat in our belief that average inflation for 2024 will be better than expected," the PCO said.

According to the PCO, the low inflation resulted from the government’s programmed and persistent drive to tame inflation.

"This is the outcome of a campaign to keep prices of goods affordable to families," it said.

"This can be gleaned from the almost across-the-board slower increase in the prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages, transport, and utilities," it added.