SOCIAL MITIGATION MEASURES IN PLACE VS INFLATION - DOF

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III reiterates that the Tax Reform for Accelration and Inclusion law had minimal effects on inflation

The country’s economic managers assured the public on Tuesday that the government is fast-tracking the release of the unconditional cash transfers (UCTs) for the country’s poorest households, along with other social mitigation measures to stay ahead of the temporary elevated inflation rate.

In Seoul, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said that he and the rest of the economic team agree that the best way to address inflation is for Congress to swiftly approve the Rice Tariffication Act, as this would bring down prices of rice by around P7 per kilo and reduce inflation to below four percent by the second half of 2018.

“The economic team of the Duterte Administration would like to assure you as well as the Filipino people that the Duterte Administration remains committed to reforming our socioeconomic structure towards a more inclusive society so that we can provide markets, we can provide the manpower to service manufacturing industries here in Korea. We shall continue to prioritize investments that will improve the health and education of our people, enhance security and public order, and build world-class infrastructure,” Dominguez said in a press briefing in Seoul, where President Duterte wound up his three-day official visit.

Dominguez said that as of April this year, the unemployment rate dropped to 5.5 percent as 625,000 new jobs were created during the first fourth months of 2018, down by 0.2 percentage points from 5.7 percent during the same period last year.

He said sustaining the administration’s priority investments in infrastructure, public order and social services “is not an easy task,” but that the government has “to face the short-term challenges of a fast-growing economy, and we must tackle these problems in order to succeed in the long run.” The finance chief assured the public that the government is “not casting aside” the inflation figure, which was recorded at 4.6 percent in May, as the government has put in place a “long menu of social mitigation measures” to ease the impact of high prices.

“We already know that the main contributors for inflation

are higher tobacco products, the imported cost of fuel, and the higher prices of rice, corn and fish, and we are already taking steps to stay ahead of the situation,” Dominguez said.

The Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act (TRAIN), which has been blamed for the inflation uptick, continues to account for only 0.4 percentage points of the inflation rate in April and May.

The 4.6 percent inflation rate for May was at the low end of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) forecast of 4.6 to 5.4 percent for that month, and also lower than the Department of Finance estimate of 4.9 percent. Dominguez said these were conservative estimates.

“I would like to emphasize that TRAIN is not the sole reason for the increase in inflation. The effect of high global oil prices driven by unfavorable geopolitical events, along with the import quotas on rice, have affected prices on a much larger scale,” Dominguez said.

“We, in the economic team, are of one mind that the best way to address inflation is to pass the Rice Tariffication Act. The estimates are it will bring down rice prices by around P7 per kilo for the Filipino families and reduce inflation to below four percent by the second half of the year,” Dominguez said.

In Manila, Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno and the rest of the economic team likewise assured the public that the government is putting in place social

JOINT STATEMENT OF ECONOMIC MANAGERS

mitigation measures for the benefit of the majority of Filipinos.

A joint statement signed by Dominguez, Diokno and Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia said that there is a need “to stay the course” in pursuing the economic reforms needed to fulfill the Duterte administration’s vision of transforming the country into a predominantly high middle-class economy by 204o.

“Toward this objective, our economic program must generate the required resources so that we can continue to make investments in our people’s health and education, security and public order, and to build world-class infrastructure,” Diokno said, reading from the joint statement.

“Staying the course will not always be easy, but we owe it to our people, our children, and future generations. We know that we are going through a challenging period. /

Staying the course will not be easy, but we owe it to our people, our children and future generations.