SINAG: Latest inflation figures show imports didn’t tame prices

The Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG) on Thursday denounced the country’s latest inflation print, as it said the latest figures show that imports did not address high prices.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) earlier on Wednesday reported headline inflation at 7.6% in March, slower than the

8.6% recorded in February. Prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages grew by 9.3%.

Core inflation which excludes selected food and energy items, however, climbed to 8.0% or the highest since March 1999’s 8.1%.

“Time ang again, we have said that importations would not ‘tame high prices,’ across commodities.

Economist forecasts further rise in PH foreign reserves

An economist forecasts the country’s dollar reserves to further increase given the resiliency of fundamental inflows, such as overseas Filipino workers’ (OFW) remittances.

Preliminary data released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Wednesday showed that gross international reserves (GIR) rose to USD100.2 billion as of end-March 2023, up from USD98.2 billion as of end-February 2023, but lower than the year-ago’s USD 107.8 billion.

equivalent to around 7.5 months of imports, which is already way above the international threshold of around three to four months of import cover.

This, he said, “could still provide (a) greater buffer/support/ cushion on the peso exchange rate vs. any speculative attacks.”

And we have been proven right,” SINAG said in a statement.

“Precisely dahil umasa na lang tayo sa (because we relied on) imports, especially the last three years, hindi natugunan ‘yung pagtulong sa (there was no assistance for) local rice farmers in terms of reducing their cost of producing palay,” it added.

Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) chief economist Michael Ricafort said revenues by the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector, along with the recovery of the tourism sector and the drop in crude oil prices and other commodities in the global market, among others, contributed to the rise in the foreign reserves.

Ricafort said the strengthening of the peso against the United States dollar since October last year also lent support to the GIR.

He said the latest level of GIR is

Ricafort said foreign reserves are expected to get a further boost not just from the fundamental dollar inflows but also the foreign currency-denominated borrowings of both the government and the private sectors.

“Thus, still relatively high GIR at USD100.2 billion could still strengthen the country’s external position, which is a key pillar for the country’s continued favorable credit ratings for the second straight year, mostly at 1-3 notches above the minimum investment grade, a sign of resilience despite the Covid-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic that caused downgrades in other countries around the world,” he added. (PNA)