Is inflation eroding popular support in the Philippines?

PHILIPPINES - Report 05 Oct 2023 by Diwa Guinigundo

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr suffered a major decline in his approval rating as consumer prices in the Philippines weakened his base support. Some 65% of the 1,200 respondents in the September Pulse Asia Survey approved of his performance, but this was down 15 percentage points (ppts) from 80% in an earlier poll in June.

Earlier today, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) issued the official report on the September 2023 inflation, and it may not sound inspiring to those who remain supportive. Inflation in September rose further, to 6.1% year on year from 5.3% in August. Inflation further accelerated in both the National Capital Region (NCR) and in areas outside NCR.

The main driver of the September upsurge was, of course, the heavily-weighted food and non-alcoholic beverages component, which moved by nearly double digits, at 9.7%. Of the food items, the major driver was rice inflation, which rose by 17.9% in September against August’s mere 8.7%, reflecting the serious supply problem, the failure to import a sufficient volume of rice before the harvest season and the reported hoarding and profiteering of the staple commodity. Price controls and the rejection of the proposal to temporarily reduce rice tariffs did not help any. Rice became inaccessible to many ordinary Filipinos who may have been some of those surveyed by Pulse Asia.

Now read on...

Register to sample a report

Register
Sign-in
Forgot your password?
Copyright 2024 GlobalSource Partners. All rights reserved. This report is prepared for GlobalSource Partners’ clients and may not be redistributed, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, retransmitted or disclosed, in whole or in part, or in any form or manner, without the express written consent of GlobalSource Partners. This report is distributed simultaneously to our website and other portals used by GlobalSource Partners. The information herein was obtained from various sources and is believed to be reliable but GlobalSource Partners does not warrant its completeness or accuracy. Neither GlobalSource Partners nor any Country Analyst, officer or employee accepts any liability whatsoever for any direct, indirect or consequential damages or losses rising from any use of this report or its contents.