By Azer Parrocha/Philippine News Agency
MANILA — Malacañang expressed confidence that disinflation will continue after the country’s inflation rate further eased to a 31-month low at 2.4 percent in July.
“Inflation continues to drop. The Palace welcomes this positive development with inflation further easing to 2.4 percent in July this year,” Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a statement on Tuesday.
“We are confident that disinflation will continue as we remain on guard in monitoring the prices of basic goods and commodities,” he added.
Citing the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), Panelo attributed the downtrend of inflation in July 2019 to lower prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages; housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels; and transport.
“This is indicative of the hard work and strong political will of the President and our economic managers in reining in on the soaring prices of basic goods and services,” Panelo said.
Panelo, meanwhile, assured that the Duterte administration will continue to implement macroeconomic policies which will have a positive impact that can be “felt” by all Filipinos.
PSA Undersecretary Claire Dennis Mapa, in a press briefing, said he expects inflation to continue to go down or at least stabilize at this number in the coming months.
According to the PSA, inflation in June 2019 was higher at 2.7 percent and in July 2018 at 5.7 percent.
This brings the year-to-date inflation for 2019 to 3.3 percent.
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