THE Department of Finance is urging the Department of Agriculture (DA) to “restrategize” its food programs and to roll out a “stronger” program against African Swine Fever (ASF) following the uptick in the country’s inflation rate in December.
Finance Undersecretary and Chief Economist Gil Beltran said in an economic bulletin on Wednesday that the quicker inflation in December last year at 3.5 percent was mainly on account of major food items, particularly vegetables and meat.
“Vegetable supplies were dented by the successive typhoons that swept the country during the last quarter. Meat was adversely affected by the African Swine Fever,” Beltran said.
Apart from vegetables and meat, the finance official also pointed out that rice recorded a slight price increase of 0.10 percent.
Beltran added that regions directly battered by typhoons such as Cagayan Valley and Bicol also recorded the highest inflation rate of 6.6 percent.
“The DA’s food programs may have to be restrategized so that unaffected regions can supply alternative supplies of vegetables to typhoon-battered regions immediately after a typhoon. Likewise, a stronger program to stamp out ASF needs to be set up,” Beltran said.
Also contributing to the increase in the inflation rate is the uptick in transportation services to 8.33 percent in December from 7.63 percent the prior month, Beltran said, adding that international crude oil prices also rose 10.9 percent to $48.76 per barrel from $43.95 per barrel in the previous month due to tighter supply arising from demand recovery.
Nonetheless, the year-on-year decline in prices of utilities and fuels helped temper the increase in the general price level, Beltran said.
The Philippine Statistics Authority reported that inflation rate accelerated to 3.5 percent, coming from 3.3 percent in November 2020 and 2.5 percent in December 2019.
For 2020, the country’s inflation rate averaged 2.6 percent, within the 2-percent to 4-percent target of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.