THE Philippines’ overall inflation rate clocked in at 4.4 percent in July 2024 due to faster year-on-year increases in housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, and heavily-weighted food and non-alcoholic beverages, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said Tuesday, August 6, 2024.
The inflation rate in June 2024 was at 3.7 percent, while 4.7 percent was recorded in July 2023.
The PSA said the upward trend in the overall inflation in July 2024 was primarily influenced by the higher year-on-year increase in the index of housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels at 2.3 percent and heavily-weighted food and non-alcoholic beverages index at 6.4 percent.
It also noted a spike in the inflation rates in the indices of transport at 3.6 percent and education services at 5.8 percent.
The PSA said 55.5 percent of the total inflation was from food and non-alcoholic beverages with or 2.4 percentage points; housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels had 11.3 percent share or 0.5 percentage point; and restaurants and accommodation services with 10.8 percent share or 0.5 percentage point.
The food inflation for the said month also went up to 6.7 percent from 6.5 percent during the month prior due to the acceleration of the year-on-year increase in meat and other parts of slaughtered land animals index at 4.8 percent; and fruits and nuts at 8.4 percent, from 3.1 and 5.6 percent, respectively, during the previous month.
The indices of corn; milk, other dairy products and eggs; and ready-made food and other food products also recorded faster annual increments at 17.5, 1.8, and 6.0 percent, respectively.
Slower annual decline was noted in the indices of fish and other seafood at 0.8 percent from 1.4 percent last month, and oils and fats at 2.6 percent from 3.0 percent.
While rice inflation slowed to 20.9 percent from 22.5 percent, it remained the top contributor to the July inflation with 1.9 percentage points.
The PSA said flour, bread and other bakery products, pasta products, and other cereals inflation also went down to 2.6 percent, while vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas and pulses were at 6.1 percent from 7.2 percent.
The inflation rate in the National Capital Region rose to 3.7 percent from 2.3 percent, while in areas outside the region, the inflation also increased at 4.6 percent.
“Relative to their respective June 2024 inflation rates, 13 regions outside NCR exhibited higher inflation rates in July 2024. Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, for the sixth consecutive month, and Region X (Northern Mindanao) registered the highest inflation rate of 5.7 percent in July 2024, while Region I (Ilocos Region) remained as the region with lowest inflation rate for the seventh consecutive month at 3.3 percent,” the PSA said.
In a statement, the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) assured the public that the government is implementing crucial interventions to support the most vulnerable sectors and ensure food security amid the ongoing La Niña phenomenon and the higher inflation recorded in July 2024.
Neda Secretary Arsenio Balisacan noted the implementation of the Rice-for-All program of the Department of Agriculture (DA) to ease the burden of high rice prices.
Under the program, rice will be sold at P45 per kilo at selected Kadiwa centers, with prices adjusted according to the fluctuations in rice prices.
The DA also earlier assured the availability of the quick response fund, assistance, credit, and seed buffer stock and expedited the declogging of farm drainage systems and constructing water-impounding projects and post-harvest facilities to aid farmers and help increase and stabilize their production.
“Between 2023 and 2021, about 2.5 million Filipinos were lifted out of poverty, bringing our country’s poverty incidence down to 15.5 percent from 18.1 percent. Our goal now is to sustain this momentum by addressing the constraints to food security and economic development more broadly,” said Balisacan.
“We emphasize that the country’s economic gains are intended to benefit all Filipinos. The government’s economic policies aim to alleviate poverty by ensuring that all Filipinos can afford their basic needs and achieve a decent standard of living toward a matatag, maginhawa, at panatag na buhay para sa lahat,” he added. (TPM/SunStar Philippines)