PH factories produce fewer goods for 6 months in a row

The bad news was the continuing decline of factory output which fell for a sixth straight month in May.

The good news—the country’s chief economist said it’s not a cause for concern because easing inflation augurs well for the manufacturing sector.

In its Monthly integrated Survey of Selected Industries (Missi) report, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said volume of production of goods last May declined by 4 percent year-on-year, a sharp reversal of a 13 percent growth posted in 2018.

Monthly production, measured through Volume of Production Index or VoPI, has been falling since December 2018 athough the rate of decline last May was not as bad as last April’s which showed a 14.3 percent fall in manufacturing output.

“Despite these negative figures, we note a positive development,” said Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia, referring to stock market figures that showed more manufactruing firms gaining than losing.

Pernia, who heads the state planning agency National Economic and Development Authority (Neda), remained optimistic “as lower prices of rice and domestic oil prices, including downward adjustment in electricity rates are seen to temper inflation pressure in the month of June, which bodes well for producers of manufactured goods.”

The PSA also on Friday reported that the headline inflation rate fell to a 22-month low of 2.7 percent in June mainly because of declining rice prices, lower education costs that month and base effects from last year’s higher-than-expected consumer price increases. (Editor: Tony Bergonia)