The Philippines’ inflation rate is now on the downtrend this year, according to the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA).
During the Palace press briefing, NEDA chief Arsenio Balisacan said: “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 percent and at 3.5 percent. So we are on a downward trajectory already.”
In a statement released on Thursday, Balisacan noted that the weakening peso is not always hurtful to the economy.
“I think there are a lot of misconceptions about the weakening peso. When the peso depreciates, a bit not too much, because too much depreciation will cause instability and that could prevent investment,” the socioeconomic planning chief said.
“But, we think you know, allowing it to a lower level, like what it is now, can improve our competitiveness. Whether we are for the producers of local substitutes of imports or our exports,” he added.
Balisacan bared that they eye a stable exchange rate to boost the country’s economy.
“So the trick is to prevent sharp changes in those exchange rates because when you have that kind of world, it’s difficult to make decisions and therefore, investors will postpone their decisions…because they are not quite sure what the economic conditions are,” the NEDA chief said.
Last month, inflation rate eased to 7.6 percent from 8.6 percent, which is within the inflation forecast of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas at 7.4 percent to 8.2 percent.
