By Christine Fabro
The country’s inflation rate is now on the downtrend and may ease further this year, the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) said Thursday, April 20.
In a Malacañang press briefing, NEDA Chief Arsenio Balisacan said the government will continue to monitor the situation to sustain the downward trajectory of inflation.
“We are actively monitoring the situation and implementing the necessary measures to ensure that by the end of the year, we should be on our target of roughly around 4% and at 3.5%. So we are on a downward trajectory already,” Balisacan said.
Data showed that the inflation rate in March further eased to 7.6% from 8.6%, which is within the inflation forecast of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas at 7.4% to 8.2%.
Meanwhile, Balisacan pointed out that a depreciation of the value of the Philippine peso is “not necessarily detrimental to the economy.”
“When the peso depreciates, a bit not too much, because too much depreciation will cause instability and that could prevent investment,” he said.
Additionally, the socioeconomic planning chief noted that the country is still on track to hit its gross domestic product (GDP) growth target of 6% to 7% this year.
The latest GDP forecast by the International Monetary Fund revealed that the Philippines’ GDP growth is projected at 6%.
According to the report, the Philippines ranked first among the Association of Southeast Asian Nations member states in terms of GDP growth. -ag
