Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez.
SPEAKER Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez on Tuesday welcomed the report of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) in inflation, vowing that the House of Representatives under his leadership would continue pursuing measures to reduce food prices.
“The PSA report is a welcome development. It is a piece of good news for all of us, for President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ R. Marcos Jr., for Congress, and especially for our people,” Speaker Romualdez said.
The PSA reported that inflation, or the rate of increase in consumer prices, fell significantly to .9 percent last month from 1.4 percent in June, and from 4.4 percent a year ago in July 2024.
“This means that the administration of President BBM, with the help of Congress, principally the House of Representatives, has successfully tamed inflation,” Speaker Romualdez said.
“The inflation rate is not just a number. It represents more Filipino families being able to afford rice and basic food items, more Filipinos being able to fight hunger,” Speaker Romualdez said.
The House leader noted that in the case of rice, its retail price has been going down since the President took measures to cut import tariff and the House exercised its oversight function to check profiteering, hoarding, price manipulation, and other abusive practices by traders, wholesalers and middlemen.
“We will continue to do oversight to make sure that prices are in check and are kept low, especially that of rice,” Speaker Romualdez said.
He said the .9 percent inflation in July “is the lowest this year and perhaps in the last six years.”
He said based on PSA data, the inflation rate stood at 2.9 percent in January before steadily going down to 2.1 percent in February, 1.8 percent in March, 1.4 percent in April, 1.3 percent in May, and 1.4 percent in June.
“We hope to sustain the trajectory of these numbers, or at least keep prices low for our people,” Speaker Romualdez added.
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