Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 7) — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said Tuesday that consumers might see lower inflation by the second quarter of 2023, with his optimism banking on the dip in fuel prices and imported agricultural products.
“As I said, the importation of many of the agricultural products, which have been a large part of the inflation rate… we have already taken some measures so that the supply will be greater and so that will bring the prices down but that will take a little time,” he said in a statement.
“And my continuing estimate or forecast is that by — we can see the lowering of inflation by the second quarter of this year,” Marcos added.
The president believes the high inflation rate in January has already peaked.
“This is going to be as high as it’s going to get,” Marcos said.
READ: PH inflation heats up further to 8.7% in January
Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed inflation accelerating to 8.7% last month—the fastest since November 2008—from the 8.1% recorded in December.
It was also almost three times higher than the 3% inflation rate in January 2022. January’s inflation rate is well above the 7.5% to 8.3% forecast range of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas for the month.
The main contributors to the faster inflation in January were housing and utilities and food and non-alcoholic beverages.
Speaking on CNN Philippines’ The Final Word, Chief ASEAN economist Euben Paracuelles said the country could tally an inflation rate of more than 8% in the next one to two months.
“We thought by January inflation would have already started to come down as seen in many parts of the region,” he said.
“The momentum has picked up speed and we’re probably going to see a month or two of inflation for the country,” he added.
Paracuelles added that authorities should step up in managing supplies while importations should be better planned and timed to prevent rates from continuing to rise.
