Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 7) — While the government has yet to temper rising food prices, rental hikes also haunted Filipinos in January, with the inflation rate accelerating to 8.7%—the fastest since November 2008.
Although the public expected cooler inflation, National Statistician Dennis Mapa said, however, that out of the 13 major commodity groups that they are tracking, nine increased prices in January compared to December.During a briefing Tuesday, Mapa presented data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), which showed a “quite steep” inflation jump of 8.7% last month 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.Just like the central bank’s earlier forecast, Filipino consumers did not only deal with high food prices last month, as housing and utilities recorded an increase in inflation rate at 8.5% from 7% in December 2022.As the Philippine economy regained momentum, there were upward adjustments in housing rentals, according to Mapa.Mapa said the increase in housing rentals began in December with 4%, then climbed to 5% last month.He noted that during the lockdowns, annual inflation for this segment was at 2.5% in 2020, 1.3% in 2021, and 2.4% last year.Medyo stable ‘yung housing rental during the height of the pandemic, but nagkaroon ng adjustment. Dumagdag ‘yung electricity, power,” he said.[Translation: The housing rental was relatively stable during the height of the pandemic, but there was an adjustment. And there were also increases in electricity and power.]Meanwhile, food and non-alcoholic beverages remained a major contributor to inflation in January, recording a 10.7% rise.Vegetables continued to record faster inflation at 37.8% in January against 32.4% a month prior, with onions as the biggest contributor to food inflation.’Yung onions, maliit lang talaga ‘yung weight niya sa food basket kaso ‘yung kanyang inflation ay pumalo ng 132.2%,” Mapa said.[Translation: While the onions’ weight in the food basket is really small, its inflation has hit 132.2%.]Last December, the Department of Agriculture set the suggested retail price (SRP) of onions at ₱250 per kilo after its monitoring found that prices in markets already reached as high as ₱700. The government then decided to import red onions to address the issue.Metro Manila’s inflation rate also went up to 8.6% in the period versus the 7.6% in December 2022, still driven by housing and utilities.Inflation in areas outside the capital region also accelerated to 8.7% in January. Mapa also noted that ten regions recorded faster inflation last month, while five regions witnessed cooler inflation numbers.
“As a consumer, I would want that it’s already the peak. But we have to look at the data, may challenges tayo (we have challenges). Ang risk talaga ay prices ng food (Food prices continued to pose risk),” Mapa said when asked if January’s inflation is already the peak.
Gov’t not doing enough?
Deputy Senate Minority Leader Risa Hontiveros claimed the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is “obviously… not doing enough.”
Even the President cannot debate with it kasi [because] PSA na mismo ang naguulat [is the source of the data] so the government really has to take the bull by the horns. The President has to, the economic management team has to, I hope, fully support the Bangko Sentral [ng Pilipinas] in exercising its mandates and preserving the wherewithal to exercise those mandates para mapa-control ang inflation (to control the inflation),” she told CNN Philippines’ The Source on Tuesday. The senator stressed taming inflation is a “priority issue.
