Malacañang welcomed the continuous deceleration of the inflation rate, which stands at 3.3% in March 2019.
Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo, this is the lowest inflation rate since January 2018.
“The Administration’s resolve to cushion the impact of inflation has resulted in the downward path of inflation for five straight months,” Sec. Panelo said.
According to Panelo, they are confident that this slide would continue further for the rest of the year as President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s signing of Republic Act No. 11203 last February is expected to further ease inflation.
The economic managers expect rice prices to go down and further cut inflation by 0.5 to 0.7 percentage point this year.
However, Panelo admitted that the administration will not be complacent but remains vigilant in keeping a close watch on the prices of goods and commodities with the onslaught of El Nino, which may hamper food production.
Some of the pre-El Nino mitigating measures that Department of Agriculture (DA) has implemented include ditribution of water pumps and shallow tube wells and ready to conduct cloud seeding as necessary.
“The Palace calls on everyone to participate in water preservation not only in agriculture but also in our daily consumption to increase our resiliency against this extreme weather phenomenon,” adds Panelo.
