NEDA chief sees lower inflation for March

The inflation rate, or growth of consumer prices, for March may be slower than the 3.4 percent readout last month, National Economic and Development Authority Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan said Thursday, March 21

Balisacan told reporters that they are confident that inflation for this month will still be within the target of two percent to four percent amid the legislative wage hike appearing “not to be gaining ground.”

“I don’t think that it will go higher than what we had last month especially that this push for a legislated wage did not appear to be gaining ground. Of course, we wanted it to rise but we would want it to be a tripartite decision among firms across the regions of the country,” he said.

The NEDA chief earlier stated that the P100 wage hike may lead to layoffs amounting to over 340,000 jobless individuals as businesses, especially those micro, small, and medium enterprises, will not be able to accommodate the increase.

Balisacan’s forecast contrasts the central bank’s 3.9 percent, which Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Eli Remolona Jr. said could be attributed to costly transport and food prices.

The continued increase in rice prices pushed February’s inflation rate to 3.4 percent, coming from a four-month slowdown and a record-low 2.8 percent in January.

Economic growth

The growth performance of the country is also seen to reach the government’s target of 6 percent this year due to domestic demand, Balisacan stated.

“Hopefully with the positive growth in exports, it’s the domestic demand that will dominate the performance of the economy,” he said.

“If we are able to keep the inflation to 2 to 4 percent this year, then that should be a favorable factor for continued expansion of domestic demand,” he added.

The gross domestic product in 2023 missed the target of 6 to 7 percent, only reaching 5.6 percent as attributed to the decline in net exports, which dropped by 2.6 percent as a result of the decline of goods exports at 11.6 percent.

On the other hand, exports value in January posted an increase of 9.1 percent to $5.94 billion from $5.44 billion in the same month last year, as per data from the Philippine Statistics Authority.

— Xander Dave Ceballos