Inflation rises 4% in March

Filipino consumers face rising food prices due to inflation this year. —GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine inflation rose to four percent in March, one percent higher than the rate recorded in February, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported Tuesday.

“The country’s headline inflation accelerated to 4.0 percent in March 2022, from 3.0 percent in February 2022,” the PSA said in a statement.

According to the PSA, the inflation in the indices of food and non-alcoholic beverages, housing, water, electricity, gas, other fuels, and transport contributed to the overall inflation increase.

The following are the commodity groups which have higher annual increments:

-Food and non-alcoholic beverages – 2.6 percent
-Housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels – 6.2 percent
-Transport – 10.3 percent
-Alcoholic beverages and tobacco – 4.8 percent
-Furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance – 2.6 percent
-Information and communication – 0.7 percent
-Restaurants and accommodation services – 3 percent

Food inflation grew to 2.8 percent this month from 1.1 percent in February. At the national level, the following food groups were observed to have faster annual growth rates:

-Flour, bread, and other bakery products, pasta products, and other cereals – 3.6 percent
-Meat and other parts of slaughtered land animals – 2.9 percent
-Fish and other seafood – 4.3 percent
-Milk, other dairy products, and eggs – 0.8 percent
-Oils and fats – 9.1 percent
-Sugar, confectionery, and desserts – 6.2 percent
-Ready-made food and other food products not elsewhere classified – 2.3 percent.

Slower annual increases, meanwhile, were seen in the indices of health at 2.5 percent and recreation, sport, and culture at 1.5 percent.

The rest of commodity groups retained their annual rates in February.

‘Tight watch’

Malacañang assured that their economic managers will keep a “tight watch” over the matter.

“Our economic managers continue to keep a tight watch over inflation as it hits 4% in March 2022. They attribute this upward trend in transport, gas, other fuels among others,” acting presidential spokesperson Martin Andanar said in a separate statement.

“Having said this, we will not relax in our efforts and will work twice as hard to address the national issue of higher prices,” he added.

Compared to a year ago, the current inflation is slightly lower than in the same period last year at 4.1 percent.

The national average inflation from January to March this year is at 3.4 percent, the PSA said.

EDV