MANILA – Malacañang on Thursday stated that the national government is working “double time” to tame inflation amid the ongoing volatility in global oil and non-oil prices.
The remark was made following the announcement of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) that the country’s inflation rate increased to 4.9 percent in the previous month, up from 4.0 percent in March and 4.1 percent the same month last year.
“The Executive, particularly our Economic Team, is closely monitoring the increase in the country’s inflation, which stands at 4.9 percent in April 2022,” acting presidential spokesperson and Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said in a press statement.
The government will need to work hard as twice than before to address increasing prices, Andanar said.
“We shall work double-time to address the socio-economic concerns of our people while taming high prices of goods and commodities,” he added.
Based on the data from the PSA, the 4.9 percent inflation rate for April is the fastest since January 2019.
Food and non-alcoholic beverages emerged as the top source of inflation as prices climbed by 3.8 percent.
Transport prices soared by 13 percent while housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels, 6.9 percent.
In April, the inflation in the National Capital Region (NCR) stood at 4.4 percent, up from 3.4 percent in the previous month and the 2.4 percent recorded in the same month last year.
Meanwhile, inflation in areas outside NCR rose to 5.1 percent in the month, up from 4.1 percent in March and 4.5 percent in the same month in 2021.
As for the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), it stated that the inflation outturn is consistent with their assessment that inflation will remain elevated over the near term due to the continued volatility in global oil and non-oil prices, reflecting largely the continued impact of the conflict in Ukraine on the global commodities market.
The BSP added inflation at the end of 2022 will settle above the government’s target range, but this is expected to slow down by 2023 with the easing of supply-side pressures.
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