Charles Teves
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has predicted that the inflation rate for February 2023 will fall within a range of 8.5 to 9.3 percent, due to the increased prices of cooking gas, which pose potential risks for inflation.
The Central Bank issued a statement on Tuesday indicating that the high prices of essential food items such as pork, fish, eggs, and sugar are likely to contribute to the overall increase in prices this month.
On the other hand, the decreased prices of local petroleum, fruits and vegetables, chicken, and beef are expected to offset these influences.
“The peso appreciation could contribute to easing price pressures during the month,” the BSP said.
The strengthening of the peso to around 54 per US dollar in recent weeks has resulted in an acceleration of the inflation rate to 8.7 percent in January. This is compared to the previous month’s 8.1 percent.
This increase dashed hopes that the domestic inflation rate had reached its peak in December.
“The BSP will continue to adjust its monetary policy stance as necessary to prevent the further broadening of price pressures as well as the emergence of additional second-order effects,” the Central Bank said.
Filipinos have been worried about the increasing inflation rate for the last few years.
That's still very high. Inflation should be kept at 2-4% for the economy to be stable.
— Kuya Billy (@kuyasirbilly) February 28, 2023
"We are monitoring"
sabi nung lider na walang alam!— DayunyorLBM (@Unity203B) February 28, 2023
Anyare sa statement ni Sec Diokno na inflation will go down early 2023??? Minsan nakakaduda na rin yang Kadiwa na yan
— Mois3sFork (@MoisesFork) February 28, 2023
The Philippines is increasing its interest rates at almost the same pace as the US Federal Reserve.
Yet, it is quite apparent that it's not enough. The Marcos government isn't doing enough.
No plan to quell inflation, and no plan to help people being affected by inflation, too. https://t.co/b90k69LWot
— Carwyn (@Carwyn_Candila) February 28, 2023
https://twitter.com/SaltAndReality/status/1630734979528540160?s=20
https://twitter.com/TallKid98/status/1630574364352733184?s=20
https://twitter.com/Karoljin/status/1630505873507508224?s=20
Netizens also said that Marcos’ allies, who mostly are his relatives, should keep their “hands off the cookie jar.”
An advice to the President is, you can’t afford to be lazy and corrupt. You want to prove your critics wrong? WORK. And keep your family’s and friends’ hands off the cookie jar. People around u aren’t motivated bec you’re not inspiring. Sa totoo lang. https://t.co/aplpubcN5y
— Kristoffer Pasion (@indiohistorian) February 28, 2023
To combat the high inflation rate, the Central Bank has increased its key policy rates by a total of 400 basis points. It concluded, “The BSP will also continue to monitor closely emerging price developments in accordance with the BSP’s price stability mandate.”
