Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno on Wednesday clarified that the remark of President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. on the country's June inflation was "misunderstood."
"Let me begin by saying that the President’s disbelief at the 6.1% June 2022 inflation rate figure was misunderstood. He was referring to it as a full-year figure when in fact the year-to-date, meaning January to June average inflation rate, is actually 4.4%," Diokno said in a Palace briefing.
During his first briefing as a Chief Executive, Marcos said he will have to disagree with the inflation rate reported by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), saying that it is "not that high."
According to Diokno, June's figures are within the pegged forecast of the Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas and the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC).
The full-year forecast, meanwhile, is at 3.7 to 4.7 percent based on the DBCC’s macroeconomic assumptions as of May 24, 2022, Diokno added.
The Finance chief also echoed Marcos’ sentiment that high inflation is also seen outside the Philippines.
"Among our peers, Indonesia’s overall inflation climbed to 4.4 percent in June from 3.6 percent in May. Meanwhile, Thailand’s inflation rate increased to 7.7 percent in June from 7.1 percent in May. Inflation in the Euro zone stood at 8.6 percent in June, the highest in 11 years. Meanwhile, the United States’ inflation rate in May reached a 40-year high of 8.6 percent," Diokno said.
"Rest assured, the recent acceleration of inflation will be arrested by the government through addressing constraints in the food, energy, and transportation and logistics sectors," he added.
