Apart from the long-raging dispute in the South China Sea, President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. on Monday said he is also losing sleep due to the high inflation in the country.
"Iyan ang problema na 'di nagpapatulog sa akin, 'yung inflation. That's what I lose sleep every night over — is to how to bring down inflation," he said during a panel interview with the media at Malacañang.
But Marcos said he is determined to ease the high prices of goods and services in the first quarter of 2023.
"Hindi basta't magpasok ako ng tolenda ng sibuyas [tapos] bababa na ang inflation. Dadaan pa sa proseso iyan. It takes a little while pero hindi naman ganon katagal," he pointed out.
The country's inflation rate has accelerated to 8.1 percent in December 2022, the highest inflation recorded since November 2008, according to the latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
The President noted that inflation is just an aspect of the economy.
He explained that the Philippines became part of the "VIP Club" or the Southeast Asian countries' list of best-performing economies due to the robust economic growth and declining unemployment rate.
"The reason kaya tinitignan ang Pilipinas na maganda ang performance dahil sa ibang bagay kasi maghanap ka ng bansa na 7.1 percent ang growth rate [at] bumaba ng 4.2 percent ang unemployment rate na mas mababa ngayon kaysa bago ng pandemya," Marcos said.
