Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said he sees inflation that’s at a 14-year high easing as the government aims to boost agricultural output.
(Bloomberg) — Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said he sees inflation that’s at a 14-year high easing as the government aims to boost agricultural output.
“Inflation is high, so we’ll have to bring that down for the rest of the year, and I think it will,” Marcos said, according to a transcript of his media interview in Davos on Sunday.
Marcos, who’s also the agriculture chief, said his administration will help farmers ramp up production to minimize imports, which it had to do more of amid shortages in food items such as onions and sugar. Until fairly recently, onions were selling for as much as 650 pesos ($11.84) a kilogram in the Philippines, much more expensive than beef and poultry.
Domestic factors including typhoons and hoarding worsened the impact of global commodity disruptions in the Southeast Asian nation that had to raise borrowing costs by the most in two decades in the past year.
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Marcos said he plans to appoint a full-time agriculture secretary “when this is fixed, when we have the systems in place.” His government will also have to address smuggling and modernize the Bureau of Customs to help contain inflation, he added. Food and non-alcoholic drinks make up 40% of the nation’s price index.
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