Philippine gov’t forms inter-agency body on inflation, market outlook
MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has formed an inter-agency committee that will focus on the country’s inflation and market outlook, and oversee the government’s response to rising prices.
The Cabinet-level Inter-Agency Committee on Inflation and Market Outlook will be co-chaired by Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno and National Economic and Development Authority Secretary Arsenio Balisacan.
“We said we needed early warning sysgtems. So we will have this committee that the President formed,” Diokno said in a press briefing on Tuesday.
“This will be a permanent committee. It will monitor the demand and supply situation and we will report to the President monthly on the market situation. If there is a need to import, we will import,”Diokno said.
Other members of the committee are the Departments of Budget and Management (DBM), Trade and Industry (DTI), Interior and Local Government (DILG), and Science and Technology (DOST).
Meanwhile, Diokno said that they had proposed the creation of a body called the Economic Development Group which would be tasked to address the economic challenges in the country.
The group will be chaired by DOF and Neda. Its members will be the DTI, DBM, DOST, DILG, Presidential Management Staff, Department of Agriculture, and the Department of Public Works and Highways, Department of Transportation, Department of Information and Communications Technology, Department of Energy, and Department of Labor and Employment. The Neda will also serve as the group’s secretariat.
For February, the country’s inflation slowed to 8.6 percent, the Philippine Statistics Authority reported.
