Palace: Gov't won't be complacent despite easing inflation
Malacañang said that the government will remain to be vigilant to maintain the prices of goods as the country's inflation rate further eased to 3.3 percent in March this year.
The latest figure was also the lowest inflation rate since January 2018.
Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo made the statement after the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) announced Friday that the inflation rate has slowed down even more.
In a statement, Panelo said that the government was pleased with the further deceleration of the inflation rate, saying this was the effect of the government's efforts.
"The Administration’s resolve to cushion the impact of inflation has resulted in the downward path of inflation for five straight months," he said.
"We are confident that this slide would continue further for the rest of the year as President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s signing of Republic Act (RA) No. 11203 last February is expected to further ease inflation. Our economic managers expect rice prices to go down and even cut inflation by 0.5 to 0.7 percentage point this year," he added.
RA 11203 or the Rice Tariffication Act seeks to remove the quantitative restrictions on rice imports, and to allow private merchants to bring in rice from other countries.
However, Panelo said that the government will not be complacent just because the inflation rate has slowed down. He said the El Niño phenomenon is bound to affect the prices of other products.
"The government, however, would not be complacent and has been vigilant in keeping a close watch on the prices of goods and commodities with the onslaught of El Niño, which may hamper food production," he said.
"The Department of Agriculture, for one, has already distributed water pumps and shallow tube wells as part of its pre-El Niño action. We are also ready to conduct cloud seeding, if necessary," he added.
Meanwhile, Panelo called on the public to do its part in conserving water, given the recent water crisis that has hit several parts of Metro Manila.
"The Palace calls on everyone to participate in water preservation not only in agriculture but also in our daily consumption to increase our resiliency against this extreme weather phenomenon," he said.