Majority of Filipinos rate inflation as topmost concern

PHILIPPINES - In Brief 12 Jan 2024 by Diwa Guinigundo

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It is not surprising that majority of Filipinos continued to express concerns over the issue of inflation. While inflation descended to only 3.9% in December 2023, already within the official target of 2-4%, the overall 2023 average inflation reached 6.0% (2018=100), the highest since 2008 when it peaked at 8.3% (2006=100), and well outside the target. Upside risks based on the December 2023 assessment of the Monetary Board continue to be dominant especially in the face of the forthcoming El Niño dry spell expected to last through the end of the second quarter of this year. In its December 2023 Ulat ng Bayan, Pulse Asia Research Inc. reported that 72% of Filipino adults identified controlling inflation as the foremost national concern. More specifically, 40%, 20% and 10% of the population ranked controlling inflation as the first, second and third most pressing issue in the country, respectively. Likewise, this issue cut across all geographic areas and socio-economic groupings (Table 1). Conducted on a quarterly basis, the survey further indicated that public opinion regarding national urgent concerns did not significantly change from that of the previous quarter. Filipinos continue to place grave concern about price movements, then and now. In fact, the same set of concerns prevailed as conveyed by the results of the same survey in the first three quarters of 2023. Inflation has thus remained the topmost problem in the country last year. On a monthly basis, this response could be due to the fact that January 2023 saw inflation peak at 8.7 percent, the highest since November 2008. While inflation has been on a downtrend with slight upticks in August and September 2023,...