Neda: High food prices make people see themselves as poor

Filipino consumers buy food from the wet market. (File photo from Grig Montegrande)

National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) observes when prices of food are higher and the inflation rate is higher, people have the tendency to see themselves as poor.

“Families tend to self-rate themselves as poor when the inflation rate, particularly food inflation, is high,” Neda Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said.

“The SWS survey results for March 2023 reflect that tendency, even as the labor market conditions have been improving, as shown by recent months of PSA (Philippine Statistics Authority) surveys,” he added.

On Sunday, Social Weather Stations (SWS) reported that from March 26 to 29, 2023, 51 percent or 14 million Filipinos considered themselves poor, almost similar to the figures obtained last December 2022.

“That is why we have been working hard to address the issues contributing to the price elevation in recent months. The administration has succeeded in reducing overall inflation in the past three months, as shown also by PSA survey data,” Balisacan said.

Inflation rate started to slow down, from 7.6 percent in March 2023 to 6.6 percent in April.

“We have, however, much more work to do as the government targets inflation to return to low levels of 2 to 4 percent by the end of the year,” Balisacan added.

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