Gov’t numbers show inflation for Philippines’ poorest stood at 4.6 percent

Government numbers are showing what could be obvious to many—the poor suffer most from rising prices of goods.

According to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), while the average inflation was a little above 3 percent, it was 4.6 percent for the country’s poor in May 2019.

In a report on Monday (June 24), the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said the bottom 30 percent income households suffered from higher inflation that month because of faster price increases of food, beverage, tobacco, clothing and miscellaneous items.

Food prices rose 4.3 percent for the poor last May, faster than 3.9 percent last April. It was slower, though, than the 6.2 percent recorded in 2018.

The slight increase in inflation for those who could barely afford goods cut short a six-month period of easing prices.

Dairy products, fish, fruits, vegetables and other types of food became more expensive last May than in April, the PSA data showed.

The increase in prices of other basic goods, however, like rice, eggs and meat was slower last May, however. Corn prices were also falling.

After the first five months of 2019, the PSA numbers showed average inflation for the bottom 30 percent of households was slightly lower at 4.9 percent nationwide compared with 5.7 percent in 2018.

The government earlier reported that headline, or overall, inflation in May 2019 inched up to 3.2 percent from April’s 3 percent, blaming it on the impact of the prolonged dry spell due to El Nino, which cut production and supply of food, beverage and agricultural products.

The rate of increase in prices of basic commodities averaged 3.6 percent as of end-May 2019 which was within the government target of keeping inflation within 3-4 percent. (Editor: Tony Bergonia)