According to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), inflation slowed to 2.7 percent last June, which the agency notes is the lowest recorded rate since September 2017.
Inflation made headlines last September, when rates jumped to 6.7 percent and lingered at six percent and above through November. The shift prompted individuals such as General Alliance of Workers Association Secretary-General Wennie Sancho to demand immediate wage hikes.
The adjustment to inflation, which is indicative of general price levels across a range of goods and services, was credited to declining prices with certain food items and non-alcoholic beverages.
Off-setting the declines were increases in costs associated with health, recreation, and culture.
Recently, in response to the senate bill calling for private sector employers to provide their workers “14th Month Pay,” Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) President Sergio R. Ortiz-Luis, Jr. said in a UNTV report, such a policy has the potential to “break the operations of small, micro, and medium businesses; cause inflation to spike; and the Philippines to lose its competitiveness against its Southeast Asian peers.”/WDJ