MANILA, Oct 8 (NNN-PNA) – Philippines’ Finance Secretary, Ralph Recto, today said, the government will intensify measures, to maintain price stability and extend stronger support to farmers, to secure the country’s food supply, as the nation recovers from recent calamities.
The move came after the country’s headline inflation slightly inched up to 1.7 percent in Sept from 1.5 percent in Aug, driven by higher transport costs and vegetable prices, such as tomatoes and cereal products, following successive weather disturbances in key agricultural areas.
Nevertheless, the year-to-date average inflation rate of 1.7 percent remains well below the government’s target range of two to four percent for 2025.
Rice prices continued to show significant improvement, which indicates manageable price movements, despite supply-side pressures brought on by recent calamities.
Meat inflation also eased, as both chicken and pork inflation moderated.
With this, Recto said, the country’s poorest income households continued to experience deflation in Sept.– NNN-PNA
