THE Department of Finance (DOF)on Monday cited the need for government to pay particular attention to the agricultural sector in times of drought like at present, given that the sector is vulnerable and its performance having drastic impact on consumer prices.
In an economic bulletin, Finance Undersecretary Gil S. Beltran particularly noted “the agriculture sector is especially vulnerable” and that sector-specific measures need to be carried out.”
“In the aftermath of Typhoon Lando, vegetable prices have been rising by more than 10 percent since November last year. The above-average price increase may continue due to the dry spell,”
Beltran said.
He called for “innovative approaches” to counter the dry spell necessary in vegetable producing areas to dampen inflationary impact of supply tightness.
Beltran’s reading of the price landscape indicate that overall price levels appear generally stable and that continued overall price stability should give authorities sufficient room to accommodate external economic shocks.
Inflation slowed in February to 0.9 percent, much lower than previous month’s 1.3 percent and the DOF’s internal forecast of 1.4 percent.
This developed as continued low oil and electricity prices helped keep price from surging upward.
The nonfood commodity groups altogether contributed only 0.2 percentage point to the overall inflation rate of 0.9 percent.
Despite the ongoing dry spell, the country also managed to put food-price inflation under control. Food price, on average, increased by only 1.5 percent—even lower than the 1.7-percent food-price growth in January.