The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas on Tuesday expressed support to the initiatives of the government to boost the supply of key food commodities and address supply-side pressures exacerbating inflation.
It said in a statement the overall supply of agricultural commodities continued to be restricted by low farm productivity and high production costs, worsened by global supply disruptions, persistent animal diseases, uncertainties due to the Ukraine-Russia conflict and tariff and non-tariff restrictions on agricultural trade.
“Addressing high inflation requires a whole-of-government approach to protect vulnerable sectors of the economy from the impact of high prices,” it said.
Targeted measures by the government to improve farm productivity and address bottlenecks for key food items are crucial in mitigating supply-side pressures on inflation, it said.
“The central bank’s monetary policy actions are also working in tandem with fiscal policy and programs to prevent inflation expectations from becoming more entrenched,” it said.