TUESDAY / JUNE 11, 2019

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THE F[$TE$T $IIICE ARROYO
The Philippines had bouts with
high consumer prices fo-ur
times during the past 15 yeius;
but itwas the Duterte adminis-
tration that resolved elevated
iDflation the fastest after t}Ie
rate hit a 10-year high last year,
the Department of Finance
(DOF) said Monday.
Citing a recent report to Fi-
nance Secretary Carlos G.
Dominguez III from its chief
economist, Undersecretary Gil
S. Beltran, the DOF said the
headline inflation rate was al-
ready on a downtrend and re-
turned within the govern- in June
ment's 2 to 4 percent target January
range within u months even as
it averaged 5.2 percent last
year.
The rate of increase in
prices of basic commodities
reached 4.3 percent in March
2o18-breaching the target
band, before easing to 3.8 per-
cent last February.
In comparison, Beltran said
it took the Arroyo administra-
tion 31 months to bring down
inflation from above 4 per-
cent-starting with 4.1 percent
IIIIE
2oo4 to 3.8 percent in
2017.
Also under former President
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, head-
line inflation hit 4.6 percent in
January 2oo8 and it was only in
June 2oo9 that the rate fell be-
low 4 percent to 3.2 percent, or
17 months of above 4-percent in-
flation rate, Beltran added.
In January zot under former
Presid€nt Benigno Aquino III, in-
flation hit 4 percent and it took 13
months before it was
brought down to 3 percent :
in February zou, according [6

DUTERTE ABORE$$ED 1lIO1l I]IFI.ATIO]I T]lE FA$TE$T

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'""-l'flo'u,
tnllil Bl .u,..
the Duterte ad-
-ministration took xl months to
move it below j fercent, so we
did it faster." Beltran said.
The DOF attributed the ele-
vated inflation environment
last year to the spike in crude
SII{CE ARROYO
oil prices, the adjustments to
the normalization of interest
rates by the US Federal Re-
. serve, global trade tensions and
food supply issues caused
mainly by weather-related initially
events.
"Rising domestic consump-
tion as a result of more jobs
created and lower pe$sfial in_
come tax rates for individual
taxpayers under the Tax Re_
form for Acceleration and In_
clusion (TRAIN) Law had also
influenced inflation,"
the DOF added.
The DOF nonetheless
pointed out that president
IIilT
Duterte himself moved to soft-
en the inflation rate as.he is_
sudd Administrative Order No.
13 to ease food imDortation and
Memorandum Order No. 26 to
cut the gap between farmgare
and retail prices of agricultural
goods last year.
-ri€n o, oe vr_
RA INQ -.

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