With so much going on with the country’s economy that creates pessimism and alarms Filipino people, Malacañang assured the publicthat President Rodrigo Duterte’s economic team is taking steps to address the increasing prices of commodities as inflation rate hits a new record high after almost 10 years with registered record of 6.4 percent in August.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said, “The Administration is taking steps to address the challenges, particularly rising prices, faced by Filipino families. Rest assured that the President’s economic team is doing everything to monitor inflation and also to assist the poor while keeping the macro economy stable.”
In the data released by Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the inflation rate spiked at 6.4 percent in August, the fastest in over nine years since inflation was recorded at 6.6 percent in March 2009.
Because of inflation, prices of commodities continues to skyrocket and this prompted President Rodrigo Duterte to certify as urgent the rice tariffication bill to ensure its swift passage in Congress.
Duterte said the country must switch from the current quota system in importing rice to a tariff system where rice can be imported more freely.
Meanwhile, Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno also called for the immediate passage of the bill, saying that the government’s inflation-mitigating measures must be delivered with “greater sense of urgency.”