BEIJING — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Thursday noted that despite the quickening inflation, the speed by which it picked up has supposedly slowed.

The Philippines’ consumer price index rose 8.1 percent in December 2022, 0.1 percent faster than the 8 percent recorded in November 2022, according to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority.

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“At least 8.1, nag-increase lang ng 0.1,” Marcos told reporters when asked to comment about the country’s latest inflation data.

“The rate of increase is slowing,” he said.

The President said the government must immediately address issues in the agriculture sector, noting that food prices continue to be the main driver of inflation in the country.

“It’s still agricultural products kaya’t kailangan talagang ayusin yung production natin,” said the President, who also heads the Department of Agriculture.

December's inflation is within the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas' forecast of 7.8 to 8.6 percent. From January to December 2022, inflation averaged 5.8 percent, beyond the government's target of 2 to 4 percent.

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The BSP in December raised the country's key policy rate to 5.5 percent to cool down the rising prices.

Inflation for 2023 is seen to average 4.5 percent before easing back to within target by 2024. Deceleration will be due to the easing of global oil and non-oil prices and the impact of the BSP's policy rate adjustments, the central bank said in a statement.

— with a report from Jessica Fenol, ABS-CBN News

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