President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. has signed Executive Order (EO) creating the Inter-Agency Committee on Inflation and Market Outlook (IAC-IMO) to strengthen the government’s measures to curb inflation.
EO 28, signed May 26 and released on May 27, states that IAC-EMO will serve as an advisory body to the Economic Development Group (EDG) that aims to deal with inflation.
The IAC-EMO Committee will be led by the Secretary of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), co-chaired by the Secretary of the Department of Finance (DOF), and vice-chaired by the Secretary of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).
The Secretaries of the Departments of Agriculture, Energy, Science and Technology, Trade, and Interior will serve as the inter-agency members.
The advisory body will closely monitor the primary factors of inflation, such as food and energy while studying and assessing the supply and demand cases.
The committee is also tasked with facilitating regular and efficient data sharing between the involved organizations in order to perform timely supply and demand situation analysis in global, regional, and domestic developments that may affect prices.
Marcos has mandated the IAC-EMO to submit a report to the EDG for the country's situation and outlook for every quarter.
Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno proposed the creation of IAC-IMO which was approved in a sectoral meeting on March 7.
The proposal was made after the Philippines Statistic Authority (PSA) reported that inflation hiked from 8.1% in December 2022 to 8.7% in January this year.
Written by Stephanie Anne Santos, DZRH News Online Intern
