PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. finally created a new interagency committee to keep the country’s inflation within the government’s target.
Under Executive Order (EO) 28, Marcos said the Inter-Agency Committee on Inflation and Market Outlook ((IAC-IMO) will provide advisories to the Economic Development Group (EDG) to keep the prices of basic goods and services, particularly food and energy, stable.
The committee will monitor the main drivers of inflation and their proximate causes.
The scope of its assessment will cover supply-demand situations for essential food commodities, the impact of natural and man-made shocks to supply chains, as well as global and domestic developments, which affect the prices of basic goods.
The IAC-IMO will use the result of its monitoring to come out with recommendations “to curb price spikes and promote food security” such as importation, which it will consolidate in a report to be submitted to the EDG for its consideration every quarter or as the circumstances may require.
The report shall include recommendations on short, medium, and long-term measures to manage inflation.
Last April, the government announced its target to keep the country’s inflation within five to seven percent this year.
EO 28 said the Committee was also mandated to maintain a dashboard containing relevant information on prices, as well as supply and demand for food and energy commodities.
The new issuance also reorganized the government’s Economic Development Cluster into the EDG “to ensure that the integration of programs, activities, and priorities toward sustained economic growth remains efficient and effective.”
In March, Finance Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno announced that the President has approved in principle the creation of the IAC-IMO.
However, Marcos only signed EO 28, which formally established the Committee, last Friday.
The IAC-IMO will be chaired by the secretary of the National Economic and Development Authority and co-chaired by the head of the Department of Finance.
The Department of Budget and Management secretary will serve as its vice chair and its members will include the respective secretaries of the Department of Agriculture, Department of Energy, Department of Science and Technology, Department of Trade and Industry, and the Department of the Interior and Local Government.