PANGANDAMAN WELCOMES SLOWING DOWN OF APRIL INFLATION RATE AT 6.6%

Dateline Kamuning:

The country’s inflation rate, or the pace of increase in the prices of goods and services, further cooled down to 6.6 percent in April this year from a peak of 8.7 percent in January 2023, and 7.6 percent in March.

Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Amenah F. Pangandaman welcomed the development, saying that the latest data showed that the country’s inflation rate continues a downward trend.

“PSA’s data goes to show that our projection of a decelerating inflation rate will continue. And hopefully, we will be able to achieve our Medium Term Fiscal Framework (MTFF) target range of 2.0 to 4.0 percent between 2024 and 2028,” the Budget Secretary said.

“Nevertheless, we will remain committed to pushing for the implementation of immediate and medium-term strategies to cushion the impact of inflation on our consumers, including food, transport and energy security,” she added.

In a briefing on 5 May 2023, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported the decline in the inflation rate, from 7.6% in March. The figure is within the average inflation rate assumption of the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) for 2023 at 5.0 to 7.0.

The steady decline in inflation rate in the past three months strongly and clearly demonstrates the effectiveness of the whole-of-government approach implemented by the administration of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., in handling inflationary pressures, and mitigating its effects.