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'Nasaan ang ayuda?': 3-year high inflation ikinabahala ng researchers

James Relativo - Philstar.com
'Nasaan ang ayuda?': 3-year high inflation ikinabahala ng researchers
Residents affected by the renewed enhanced community quarantine wait for their turn as they claim their cash assistance from the government inside the Old Balara Elementary school in Quezon City on Thursday midnight, April 8, 2021.
The STAR / Miguel de Guzman, File

MANILA, Philippines —  Lalong tumitindi ang pangangailangan para sa ayuda sa low-income households ngayong naitala ang pinakamabilis na pagtaas ng presyo ng bilihin sa mahigit tatlong taon, giit ng economic think tank na IBON Foundation ngayong Biyernes.

Huwebes lang nang iulat ng Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) na umabot sa 4.9% ang inflation rate nitong Abril 2022 — ang pinakamataas simula nang maabot ang 5.2% inflation rate noong Disyembre 2018. Primaryang nag-ambag ang presyo ng gasolina, kuryente, atbp. sa overall inflation.

"[M]illions of low-income Filipino families are very much in need of cash subsidies but the Duterte administration still has not distributed the aid it promised for the poorest households. The economic managers proposed a Php500 monthly subsidy for the poorest 50% of families," wika ng IBON Foundation, Biyernes.

"However, it has yet to come up with the guidelines for sourcing and distributing even these paltry cash subsidies."

Wika ng IBON, sa sobrang "kuripot" ng administrasyong Duterte ay hindi pa rin nito naipapamahagi ang unconditional cash transfers noong 2019 at 2020 mula sa Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) — dahilan para manatiling undistributed ang nasa P45.2 bilyon.

Ilang sunod na linggo nangyari ang oil price hikes kamakailan, bagay na pinalala pa ng pananakop ng Rusya sa Ukraine. Ang 4.9% inflation rate noong Abril ay sobra-sobra na sa 2-4% na target ng gobyerno.

Sa kabila ng ikaapat na rollback sa presyo ng langis nitong Martes, iniulat naman ng Department of Energy ang net year-to-date increase na P17.8/litro sa presyo ng gasolina, P30.3/litro sa diesel at P23.9 para sa kerosene.

"The TRAIN Law was supposed to give UCTs to the country’s 10 million poorest families to cushion the impact of its higher consumption taxes. This should have been Php200 monthly in 2018 and Php300 monthly in 2019 and 2020, by virtue of the Department of Social Work and Development’s (DSWD) Memorandum Circular 03 series of 2018," wika pa ng researchers.

"[P]roviding cash subsidies in times of emergencies is a vital social protection mechanism that should be part of any economic program that claims to prioritize the needs of Filipinos. Cash assistance is so urgent that the people shouldn’t have to wait for a more compassionate administration to deliver it."

Una nang sinabi ng Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas na posibleng manatiling lagpas sa target ng gobyerno ang inflation ngayong 2022, bago bumagal pabalik sa target pagpasok ng 2023 sa pagluwag ng supply-side pressures.

Nakikita naman ni Jun Neri, lead economist ng Bank of the Philippine Islands, na posibleng mapinsala ng mabilis na pagtaas ng presyo ng mga bilihin ang pag-recover ng ekonomiya, bagay na lubos naapektuhan ng mga lockdowns dulot ng COVID-19.

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