MANILA — Laban Konsyumer, Inc. (LKI), a group championing consumers’ rights, urged the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to implement a rollback in the Suggested Retail Prices (SRPs) of basic commodities in light of the country’s declining inflation during the first four months of the current year,
The group’s president Vic Dimagiba said in a statement on Monday, “when can we expect a rollback in the prices of basic necessities and prime commodities (BNPC) from the DTI, when there have already been four months of the declining inflation? I believe that by now, we should already be enjoying rollbacks in SRPs of basic necessities and prime commodities because of the low inflation.”
“The rising prices simply do not make sense. Inflation has been going down and within target, but why are BNPC prices continuing to go up. Some basic goods like rice, fish, vegetable, chicken and pork have already gone down or hardly moved, but manufactured and processed BNPC are consistently adjusted upwards. It is questionable and fishy that BNPC SRPs continue to go up despite this current environment in inflation,” he added.
Dimagiba, himself a former DTI undersecretary, cited the SRPs of canned sardines, which reportedly went up by between PHP0.50 to PHP1.70 per 155 gram per can despite the supposedly declining price pressures since the start of 2019.
LKI is also seeking an explanation as to why the SRP of a certain bottled water brand has been allowed to increase by PHP1 per 500ml bottle, amid the substantially reduced supply coming from the country’s two major water utilities. Dimagiba said this may be “setting the stage for more increases in the prices of bottled water of other brands.”
He said that considering the rapidly declining inflation rate, which dove substantially last April, the DTI ought to be thinking about reducing SRPs instead of increasing them.
“The headline inflation at the national level continued to exhibit a slower pace of 3.3 percent in March 2019. This is the lowest inflation since January 2018. Inflation or the increase in the prices of goods eased further to 3.3 percent in March, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) announced on Friday, April 5. The latest figure sits comfortably within the target range of 2 to 4 percent. It is also the lowest inflation rate since January 2018,” he explained.
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