“We will continue to work closely with the government, stakeholders, and other priority sectors to implement necessary measures to ensure that the country will have a sufficient and affordable food supply — including rice — for every Filipino,” National Economic and Development Authority Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said sub a statement.
On Friday morning, the Philippine Statistics Authority reported that the country's inflation rate dropped to 3.7% in June 2024 from 3.9% in May.
The decline in inflation is attributed to lower electricity prices, which fell by 13.7% in June from fro the previous month’s 8.5-percent decline. This reduced the housing and utilities inflation rate to 0.1 percent from 0.9 percent.
Transport inflation also decreased to 3.1 percent from 3.5 percent due to lower personal transport and gasoline costs.
However, food inflation rose to 6.5 percent in June from 6.1 percent in May, driven by higher prices of vegetables and meat.
Vegetable inflation surged to 7.2 percent from 2.7 percent due to the rainy season affecting supply. Meat inflation increased to 3.1 percent from 1.6 percent, impacted by higher pork, chicken, and beef prices amid supply disruptions.
Balisacan emphasized the importance of maintaining affordable food supply and pledged ongoing collaboration with stakeholders to stabilize prices.
The inter-agency Development Budget Coordination Committee aims to hit the inflation target range of 2-4% between 2025 and 2028 through proactive measures and targeted interventions.
