Inflation manageable?

EDITORIAL

Everybody is feeling the pinch or rather the punch. The rich and powerful in government may not feel it, but high prices of commodities are making the average Juan de la Cruz hard up.

Now, even lawmakers are saying the TRAIN law may have contributed to this. Now they want “mitigating measures” to amend the law. The left wants to scrap it. 

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported Wednesday the country’s inflation rate has beaten records since 2009 at 6.4% in August this year.

This exceeded the forecasts of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) which was at 5.8% and the Department of Finance (DOF) at 5.9%.

But despite skyrocketing prices and misery of the people, Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno, says this rate is still “manageable.” Diokno believes that the high prices of basic commodities such as rice, fish, and oil in the global market greatly affect the country’s inflation rate.

“Yes, manageable. I’ve seen worst inflations. I’ve been in the government for 50 years. During the time ni Marcos nga, magkano? 50 percent inflation,” the Budget Secretary said.

However, he insists that the Congress should act on the immediate passage of proposed measures to curb the impact of inflation to the public such as the rice tariffication act.

Government  officials are saying they are speeding up implementation of mitigating measures that would ease the effects of high inflation in the country from this year to 2020.

Coinciding with the skyrocketing inflation rate, Diokno proposed an increase in the country’s inflation rate forecasts.

Meanwhile, the economic managers of the Duterte administration are set to convene to discuss the proposed measures to address the matter. This country’s economic situation is going from bad to worse. If government won’t act fast to address the situation, the seeds of discontent may fan more unrest.