Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno said the government’s proactive steps enabled the Philippines to withstand the impact of elevated inflation which started when Russia invaded Ukraine early last year.
Diokno, in a presentation during the 30th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Finance Ministers’ Meeting in San Francisco, California from Nov. 12 to 13, 2023, discussed how the Russian-Ukraine war disrupted supply chains and caused supply shortages that led to elevated levels of inflation globally.
He said the Philippines took proactive steps through its Inter-Agency Committee on Inflation and Market Outlook (IAC-IMO) by introducing a package of comprehensive measures to effectively mitigate inflation across several fronts.
The IAC-IMO serves as an advisory body to the Economic Development Group (EDG) on measures to mitigate both food and non-food inflation as well as ensure food and energy security while balancing the interests of producers, consumers and the economy.
Latest data showed that inflation in October eased to a three-month low of 4.9 percent from 6.1 percent in September.
Diokno also said the government was committed to exercising fiscal discipline through the Philippines’ first-ever Medium-Term Fiscal Framework (MTFF) to promote fiscal sustainability, reducing the fiscal deficit while enabling economic growth and avoiding adding up to inflationary pressures.
He said the Philippine government was collaborating with financial institutions such as the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank (WB) to scale up sustainable finance in the country.
The APEC Finance Ministers’ Meeting is an annual forum where APEC member economies address regional macroeconomic and financial issues and policy priorities. United States Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen chaired this year’s meeting. Julito G. Rada
APEC consists of 21 member economies including Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, People’s Republic of China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, United States, and Vietnam. It will hold its 31st meeting in Peru in 2024.