(Eagle News) — The Philippine government has said it was redoubling its efforts to mitigate the effects of inflation, which accelerated to 6.1 percent in September.
In a statement, Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno said authorities were, in particular, currently intensifying and accelerating its efforts in warehouse investigations and forfeiture procedure, the filing of charges against market players on alleged reports of anti-competitive practices, and the strict price monitoring of imported rice in the logistics chain.
He said these were to protect farmers and ensure that the lowered tariff rates do not translate to higher profit margins for importers, traders and middlemen.
“The Philippine government is all hands on deck in ensuring that we have the right policy measures, programs, and monitoring mechanisms in place to arrest rising commodity prices, which remain to be the top-of-mind concern of our citizens,” he said.
According to the Presidential Communications Office, the government will also “further improve the utilization and implementation of Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) programs such as farm mechanization, seed development, propagation and promotion, credit assistance, and extension services to improve the productivity of rice farmers, reduce production costs, and link domestic producers to the value chain.”
Measures to mitigate non-food inflation across several fronts, the PCO said, include energy and water demand management measures; supply management measures; managing cost of electricity; the careful review of wage and fare hike petitions; and the monitoring of the implementation of EO 41 prohibiting the imposition of pass-through fees for delivery trucks.
The PCO added the government also continues to focus on the completion of its targeted cash transfer program as well as fuel subsidy programs for qualified drivers and operators of public utility vehicles (PUVs), while accelerating the implementation of its 2023 Fuel Assistance for Farmers Program to farmers and fisherfolk, to help protect the vulnerable sectors.
“The Inter-agency Committee on Inflation and Market Outlook (IAC-IMO) remains committed to the continued monitoring of developments in food and non-food inflation to be able to formulate timely and relevant policy recommendations to help mitigate inflationary pressures,” the PCO said.
On Thursday, October 5, the Philippine Statistics Authority said the main drivers of the country’s overall headline inflation in September were food and non-alcoholic beverages, contributing 3.7 percentage points (ppt) of the overall 6.1 percent; restaurants and accommodation services (0.7 ppt); and housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (0.5 ppt).