PH economic managers do not seem serious in dealing with inflation — Villanueva

Senator Joel Villanueva on Thursday alleged that the recent inflation hike to a new nine-year high of 6.4 percent in August seems to show that the country’s economic managers are “not on top of the issue.”

“We cannot wait for prices to get further out of control. The economic managers do not seem to be serious in dealing with the problem,” Villanueva said in a statement.

Data released by Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Wednesday showed that inflation clocked in at 6.4 percent in August, the highest in over nine years since inflation came in at 6.6 percent in March 2009.

READ: Inflation hits new 9-year high of 6.4% in August

The senator also said he is considering to join the call to suspend the excise tax on fuel products to tame the price surge of commodities in the market.

“So now, we are considering the option of joining our colleagues in reversing the fuel excise tax to at least temper this runaway price surge,” he said.

“We also reiterate our consistent call to liberalize the entry of cheaper rice and to lower VAT to address this inflation debacle,” he added.

Earlier, Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno called on the government to deliver inflation-mitigating measures with “greater sense of urgency.”   /vvp

READ: Diokno says gov’t urgently needs to tame inflation