PRESIDENT Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. said on Thursday, December 8, 2022, he is confident that the country will not experience a recession amid the continuous increase in the inflation rate in the Philippines.
Marcos said he sees bright prospects for the country’s economy following the reported decrease in the unemployment rate for October to 4.5 percent, back to the pre-pandemic levels, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
“Ang balita na tumaas ang inflation rate na hanggang eight percent last November. Mayroon naman kasabay na mas magandang balita na bumaba ang unemployment rate sa four and a half percent mula sa five percent,” the President said in a video message.
(The news is that the inflation rate increased to eight percent last November. But there is good news at the same time as the unemployment rate dropped to four and a half percent from five percent.)
“Kaya’t kahit papaano ay malakas ang loob natin na hindi tayo magkakaroon ng recession dito sa Pilipinas dahil masyadong mababa ang unemployment rate at kung maaalala ninyo sa pagsimula namin dito sa administrasyong ito ay pinag-usapan na namin ay trabaho talaga ang aming uunahin. Kaya’t ‘yan ang nakikita ngayon natin na nangyayari. Ipagpatuloy lang natin ‘yan,” he added.
(We are somehow confident that we will not have a recession here in the Philippines because the unemployment rate is too low and if you remember, when we started this administration, we said our priority is really work. So that's what we see happening now. Let's just continue that.)
The PSA reported earlier that the country’s inflation rate skyrocketed to eight percent in October, the highest since November 2008.
Inflation is the rate of the increase of prices of consumer goods and services at a certain period of time.
However, Marcos said the government is continuously finding ways to lessen the effect of increasing prices of basic goods on ordinary Filipinos. (SunStar Philippines)