Inflation cuts value of peso–PSA data
FILIPINOS now need an additional P15 to purchase goods and services worth P100 in 2012, according to the latest data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
Based on the BusinessMirror’s computation using the 2018 Consumer Price Index (CPI) data from the PSA, P100 now has a value of only P85 compared to 2012.
This means that a Filipino consumer’s P10,000 in 2012 is now worth only P8,500 due to the acceleration of inf lation. High prices slashed the value of the peso by P1,500.
“[The CPI] is an indicator of the change in the average retail prices of a fixed basket of goods and services commonly purchased by households relative to a base year,” the PSA said.
The CPI for December is 118.9 and, for 2018, the CPI is 117.3 since the base year used is 2012. Using a base year of 2012 means the CPI for all items during that year is at 100.
Inflation in December slowed to 5.1 percent, while commodity prices grew at an average of 5.2 percent in 2018, the highest since 2009 when inflation was at 4.2 percent.
These estimates were lower compared to October when the CPI was at 119.8, the highest for the year. Inflation that month peaked at 6.7 percent.
IBON Foundation said high inflation cost the poorest half of the population to see their real income go down by P3,300 to P7,300 last year.
“Rising prices always spell more difficulty for the poor especially amid low or even stagnant incomes,” IBON said.
“Poor Filipino families [were the most] affected by last year’s high prices [and] will continue to carry the burden of these into the new year if the government does not take genuine measures to curb inflation and arrest a faltering economy,” it added.
IBON said that, while the December inf lation rate was slower, this was mainly due to the decline in world oil prices. This is the reason, IBON said, why the President’s economic team cannot claim that the slowdown in inflation in December was due to government efforts.
For one, IBON said the government’s “insistence” on the implementation of the second tranche of fuel excise taxes under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) added inflationary pressure.
“The economic managers will fallaciously claim that relatively slower inflation in the first few months of 2019 proves that TR AIN and the additional fuel excise taxes are not inflationary,” IBON said. “Such dismissiveness of how TR AIN makes consumer goods and services more expensive however only affirms the government’s insensitivity to the plight of the Filipino people, especially the poor.”