BSP interest rate hikes not curbing inflation: economist

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) interest rate hike is not an effective solution to curb the inflation in the country, according to an economist.

The BSP on Thursday decided to continue with its policy tightening, bringing key policy rates to levels last seen in 2007.

“Tantanan na ang pagtataas ng interest rate dahil ang nangyari sa atin pinapakita lang na ang interest rate ay hindi epektibong instrumento para pigilan ang pagtaas ng presyo ng mga bilihin,” economist and Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila president Emmanuel Leyco said.

Leyco said the increasing prices of goods in the country are not demand driven but due to the lack of supply.

“Yung pagtataas ng mga presyo ay hindi dahil sa maraming namimili, maraming pera ang mga tao, kung hindi kakaunti ang nabibili ng mga mamamayan lalong lalo na sa pagkain so kung ito ay pro- duction induced na inflation maski itaas ang interest rate hindi ito magiging epektibo,” he said.

He said ensuring sufficient supply of goods should be immediately addressed.

“Sa palagay ko buong taon ay patuloy na tataas ang presyo ng mga bilihin kung hindi matutugunan,” he said.

The BSP said it expects that the prices of goods will increase to 6.1% this year. It surpassed the target of 2 to 4% which can possibly be achieved in 2024.

“Global food [and] market uncertainties, continued domestic shortages in key food items, additional fare hikes with elevated oil prices, and the higher expected wage adjustments in 2023,” BSP Governor Felipe Medalla said.

Medalla also raised the need “to mitigate the impact of persistent supply side pressures on food prices, including creating positive measures and significant progress to boost productivity.”

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Cotabato City.

He noted that they wanted to avoid what happened in the late 1960s where Muslims and Christians were involved in deadly retaliations.

Ebrahim said he already met the LGUs and the security sector to avert the situation from going out of bounds or return to the late 1960s where Christians and Muslims killed each other in apparent retaliation.

He recalled the violence in the area during the 1960s “was triggered by the Manili Massacre,” where some 70 Muslim Moros, including women and children, were killed inside a mosque in Carmen, North Cotabato by Christian militiamen.

While he noted the conflict between Muslims and Christians in the 1960s stuck to the public mind, he asserted that it was not a religious war.

Ebrahim said they are now in the process of “finally addressing the problem in Pikit.”

On Thursday, Justine Abalon, 15, was shot by still unknown suspects while tending their store in Barangay Fort Pikit. He was rushed to the hospital but did not survive.

Shortly after, farmer Lopez Guiama, 42, a resident of Barangay Balongis, Pikit, was also shot in Barangay Fort Pikit. He was brought to a local hospital and reportedly in critical condition.

On Tuesday, Fahad Dilabuan Guiamalon, 13, a junior high school student, was also killed while his two other minor companions were injured during a gun attack in Pikit.

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After a presentation on Investment opportunities in Davao City, a business matching was held to en-

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Since September last year, the local media reported at least 30 killings in Pikit, all of them remain unresolved.

Pikit Mayor Sumulong Sultan said they traced a video of the suspects riding in motorcycles in Thursday’s two gun attacks.

Sultan said the LGU would give an unspecified monetary reward to information leading to the suspects’ arrest.

Citing information from barangay officials, Sultan also disputed claims that there is a religious war between Muslims and Christians in his town.

Col. Harold Ramos, North Cotabato provincial police commander, said Friday that additional police and military forces have been deployed to Pikit to beef up security in the area.

He added that they are already preparing the criminal cases against the suspects traced through security cameras.

Pikit officially belongs to North Cotabato. However, it lost 22 of its 42 villages after they voted for inclusion to the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao during the plebiscite in 2019.

The villages that opted for inclusion are now part of the so-called Bangsamoro Special Geographic Area (SGA), where many of the killings reportedly happened.

A total of 63 villages from six towns in North Cotabato are part of the SGA.

Last November, the Bangsamoro government created Task Force Reconciliation to address the spate of killings in Pikit town. (Bong S. Sarmiento / MindaNews) courage the exploration of partnerships among Czech Republic and Davao City participants. lic school teachers with regard to their loan obligations,” she said. “They gave me good advice and I am looking forward to partnering with the Integrated Bar of the Philippines to help our public school teachers with regard to their problems sa mga utang nila at sa mga kontrata nila (in their loans and contracts).”

Besides legal assistance, Duterte assured the DepEd is doubling its efforts to address the concerns of teachers. These include the review and updating of the Magna Carta for Public School Teachers with the aid of legislators, the provision of free medical checkups through a partnership with the Department of Health (DOH), and addressing concerns of teachers for their insurance and benefits through coordination with the Government Service Insurance System terminal building at the airport, establishing a parallel taxiway, upgrading the facilities on the airside and the ground, and adding contemporary airport information technology systems.

The modernization of the DIA is expected

(GSIS), among others.

The DepEd also vowed to hire teaching and non-teaching personnel to boost the economic growth of the Davao Region and the rest of Mindanao to a higher level through increased trade and tourism activities. to drop unnecessary loads of teachers, particularly their administrative tasks. (PNA)

It also aims to boost passenger traffic at the airport by up to 15.1 million passengers per annum.

Frankly, for several days, I was a bit bothered by the information provided by our editor in chief Neil about differently-abled athletes, receiving only 50% of the incentives enjoyed by “regular” national athletes who won medals in international tournaments.

The “National Athletes and Coaches Benefits and Incentives Act” was signed by President Benigno S. Aquino III in 2015, which I believe, after eight years needed to be improved.

With the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games fast approaching, a “regular” national athlete winning a gold medal can receive P300,000 and a differentlyabled champion in the ASEAN Para Games will win P150,000. Silver medalists will get P150,000 as a “regular” national athlete and P75,000 for the differentlyabled national athlete.

I clearly emphasized the word “national”, repeatedly, to bring home the point that all of them are actually “national athletes”.