The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Tuesday, August 7, reported that the inflation rate in the Philippines has hit 5.7 percent in July 2018, recording a new record-high over the last 5 years.
The 5.7 percent inflation in July also breached the rate from last month which was at 5.2 percent and the inflation rate during the same period last year which only hit 2.4 percent.
“The uptrend was mainly due to the 7.1% annual rate recorded in food and non-alcoholic beverages index. Nine out of 11 commodity divisions registered higher annual upticks during the month,” the PSA noted in a statement.
Other sectors that reported price increase include alcoholic beverages and tobacco (21.5%), housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (5.6%), transportation (7.9%), and health (3.7%).
Food products such as meat (5.8%), fish (11.4%), vegetables (16%), and sugar and other confectioneries (7.4%) also reported increase in prices.
How will this affect OFWs?
Inflation rate is defined as the sustained increase in the prices of general and common goods and services in a country. While the high peso-dirham exchange remains high at P14.41, as of press time, it means nothing for OFW families if the continuous inflation in the country and uptick in prices would be taken into consideration.
Several lawmakers are already seeking ways to help OFW families with the rising prices of goods in the Philippines.
Earlier, ACTS-OFW Representative Aniceto Bertiz III called for banks to lower remittance charges from the average 10.57 percent transfer charge to 5 percent.
Bertiz said the move can help OFWs save extra money since the rising prices of goods in the country only negates the lower value of peso.
“Reducing the cost of bank remittance services to 5% would mean some $1.5 billion or P80.1 billion in cost-savings and extra money in the pockets of our migrant workers and their families every year,” Bertiz said.
