Joint Variation

Expensive food, fuel push PH inflation to 42-month high of 5.4 percent

MANILA, Philippines—Expensive oil spilled over to food prices in May and brought headline inflation to a
42-month high of 5.4 percent, the government reported on Tuesday (June 7).
For the country’s chief economist, President Rodrigo Duterte’s order extending lower tariffs on pork and
rice while reducing duties on corn and coal to allow more imports would augment food and energy
supply in a bid to ease inflation pressures.

The year-on-year rate of increase in prices of basic commodities last month was the highest since the 6.1
percent posted in November 2018, when the country grappled with high rice prices. As of end-May,
inflation averaged 4.1 percent, above the government’s 2 to 4 percent target range of manageable price
hikes conducive to economic growth.
Prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages rose 4.9 percent year-on-year last May, faster than the 3.8-
percent increase in April. Food inflation alone accelerated to 5.2 percent from April’s 4 percent, due to
quicker price increases among fish, meat, as well as vegetable. Transport costs also jumped 14.6 percent
year-on-year, outpacing the 13-percent climb in April. In particular, gasoline prices climbed 47.2 percent
year-on-year, while diesel prices soared 86.2 percent last month.
National Statistician Dennis Mapa said rising transport inflation — mainly due to skyrocketing oil prices
wrought by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — had been gradually spilling over to the food basket — by way
of delivery and logistics costs — during the past few months.

Published: July2022

References: https://business.inquirer.net/349849/expensive-food-fuel-push-ph-inflation-to-42-month-
high-of-5-4-percent