Government seeks to arrest high inflation as oil prices seen to go up P6/liter
Tighten your belts, control your purchases and make holiday celebrations simpler to arrest a further increase in prices of commodities as the inflation rate is seen to remain high until the end of the year, National Economic Development Authority Undersecretary Rosemarie Edillon said.
Edillon said the elevated inflation can be addressed by lowering demand on the consumer side.
“Let us reduce our excessive purchasing. The increase in prices is due to external factors outside our control. What we can control is the demand. Let us lessen it,” she said.
She advised consumers to have simpler celebrations for the holidays even as she acknowledged it is not applicable to all Filipino families.
“This is not for everyone. We know that there are some families who go all out in preparing food during the holidays,” Edillon said.
On the supply side, the NEDA official said the government has programs to boost production.
Inflation in September accelerated to 6.9 percent from 6.3 percent in August due to higher food and utilities costs.
Meanwhile, diesel prices are expected to go up by at least P6 per liter on Tuesday—higher than earlier industry estimates.
Diesel prices are seen to increase by P6 to P6.20 per liter, while gasoline prices will go up by as much as P1.20 to P1.40 per liter and kerosene by P3.50 to P3.70 per liter.
The Department of Energy said this is due to OPEC+’s decision to cut oil production by 2 million barrels per day.
“The market has been reacting even NEDA:…before that decision,” Department of Energy Oil Industry Management Bureau director Rino Abad said.
Tuesday’s anticipated oil price hike will end five consecutive weeks of rollbacks.
OPEC+ announced a production cut of 2 million barrels per day starting next month to push up oil prices after its Oct. 5 meeting.
World oil prices dropped slightly above $80 per barrel from a high of $120 per barrel in the previous months due to global recession fears.
On Oct. 4, the oil companies cut the prices of gasoline by P0.40 per liter, diesel by P0.45 per liter, and kerosene by P0.85 a liter.
These resulted in the total year-to-date net increase of P14.45 per liter for gasoline, P28.95 per liter for diesel, and P23.25 per liter for kerosene.
Earlier this week, Pulse Asia said 66 percent of respondents in a September survey said containing inflation was the most urgent issue for the national government to tackle. Forty-two percent of the respondents also said they disapproved of the administration’s efforts to tame inflation.
Pulse Asia President Ronald Holmes said, if left unchecked, the problem of inflation could lead to general dissatisfaction with the administration as a whole.
He added that the survey should signal to the administration that it must step up its efforts to control inflation.