What's Happening?

Inflation to range from 5 to 7% in 2023 – DBCC

by Carl Santos

PUBLISHED ON April 25, 2023

Recently updated on April 27, 2023 02:28 pm

The Philippines’ average inflation rate for this year is expected to fall between 5% and 7%, the government’s economic managers said.

The latest projections for inflation, which quantifies how much the cost of goods and services is increasing over a specific period of time, are higher than the previous assumption of 2.5 to 4.5% given the continued high prices of food, energy, and transportation.

“Nevertheless, the government, through the Inter-Agency Committee on Inflation and Market Outlook (IAC-IMO) is committed to pursuing an all-of-government approach to continuously implement immediate and medium-term strategies to alleviate inflation, ensure food and energy security, and return to the target range of 2 to 4% between 2024 and 2028,” the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) said in a statement on Monday, April 24.

Inflation eased to 7.6% in March, a percentage point lower than February’s 8.6%, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority showed on Wednesday, April 5.

The government said the downtrend was due to the deceleration of food and transportation costs.

The DBCC also maintained the country’s growth targets at 6 to 7% for 2023 and 6.5 to 8% for 2024 to 2028, even as there are “risks posed by geopolitical and trade tensions, a possible global economic slowdown, as well as weather disturbances in the country.”