THE National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) said on Tuesday, February 7, 2023, that increasing the country’s agricultural and food supply production and energy security will help shoot down the soaring inflation.
In a statement, Neda Secretary Arsenio Balisacan assured that the administration of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. is implementing measures to ease price pressures and cushion the impact of inflation, which stood at 8.7 percent in January 2023 from 8.1 percent in December 2022.
The January 2023 inflation is the highest annual rate recorded since November 2008.
“Neda has been working closely with agencies to ensure timely and efficient implementation of the strategies and programs laid out in the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2023-2028, particularly in modernizing the country’s agriculture and agribusiness and ensuring energy security,” said Balisacan.
“The government has identified measures to keep food price movements consistent with the government’s inflation and food security objectives,” he added.
Balisacan said among the short-term measures of the government include augmenting supply such as through temporary easing of import restrictions, price monitoring, and targeted social support.
In the medium- to long-term, the priority consists of ensuring food security through higher agricultural productivity and ensuring energy security by pursuing the energy transition and development program.
The Neda secretary said these measures are intended to balance the interest among local food producers, consumers and the whole economy.
“As laid out in Chapter 5 of the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028, a whole-of-society approach is crucial in modernizing agriculture and agribusiness, with both the government and private sector working hand-in-hand to enhance the efficiency of agriculture, forestry, and fisheries production,” he added.
“A robust and resilient agriculture is vital to ensuring that we have enough supply of food and to keeping food prices stable, especially as we continue to face global headwinds and are exposed to natural hazards. Importantly, it serves as the foundation for a strong economy, as agricultural products move up the value chain,” he added.
In January 27, Marcos signed Executive Order 14, which adopts the PDP that was approved by the Neda as the second medium-term plan anchored on “AmBisyon Natin 2040,” a guide for development planning from 2016-2040 to enable Filipinos to attain a stable, convenient and peaceful life.
Marcos said the PDP aims to “bring back the country to a high-growth trajectory and more importantly, enable economic and social transformation for a prosperous, inclusive, and resilient society.”
Meanwhile, in a separate statement, Marcos said he expects to see the inflation rate going down with the drop in the prices of fuel prices and imported agricultural products.
He noted that the measures of his government “have not yet gone through the system.”
“As I said, the importation of many of the agricultural products, which have been a large part of the inflation rate... we have already taken some measures so that the supply will be greater and so that will bring the prices down but that will take a little time,” he said.
“And my continuing estimate or forecast is that by – we can see the lowering of inflation by the second quarter of this year,” he added.
In its January 2023 World Economic Outlook Update, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said inflation is a global problem that will continue to be a challenge to countries worldwide considering the continuous conflict in Ukraine due to Russian invasion and the resurgence of the coronavirus disease 2019.
The IMF forecasts global growth will fall to 2.9 percent in 2023 but is projected to rise to 3.1 percent in 2024. (SunStar Philippines)