Filipinos tighten belts as inflation soars to 14-year high
The inflation rate in the Philippines surged to 7.7 percent in October, a 14-year-high, after a recent typhoon pushed up food prices.
The high inflation is now forcing Filipinos to stretch their hard-earned peso to make ends meet.
National Statistician Dennis Mapa said on Friday the latest figure is the highest after the 7.8 percent rate that was recorded during the global financial crisis in December 2008.
The rate is higher than the 6.9 percent posted in September, but fell squarely within the Philippine central bank’s projection between 7.1 percent and 7.9 percent for October.
The year-to-date inflation currently averages 5.4 percent.
Mapa said inflation was mainly driven by higher food costs in the wake of Super Typhoon Noru’s devastation in late September.
It left behind 3.12 billion pesos (S$75.4 million) worth of damage in the agricultural sector.
He said prices will go up further in the coming months in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Nalgae, which left a swathe of destruction across the country last weekend.
The loss to the agricultural sector is about 2.71 billion pesos so far.
Street food vendor Mariel Encio, a 25-year-old mother of two, said her family is living hand to mouth these days.
She earns a measly 3,500 pesos a month selling boiled quail eggs and chilled beverages along a street in Santa Rosa, Laguna, a province 45km to the south of capital Manila. Her husband has been jobless for seven months because he fell sick.
Encio said that she used to stock up on canned sardines and packed noodles weekly, but cannot afford them anymore.
“Canned sardines were 22 pesos before, now they’re 28 apiece. I must prioritize buying rice. I buy canned goods or bread only if we still have money. Meat is rare for us,” she said.
Queenie Marco, a 57-year-old bank administrative assistant earning up to 17 times what Encio earns, used to pay about 500 pesos for about a kilogram each of rice, pork, fish, noodles and laundry last year. Now, she can buy only pork and rice with the same amount.
Power rates are also going up, so she and her children barely turn on the air-conditioner at home. She carpools to work to save on fuel.
“We scrimp on the non-essentials. We avoid dining out and instead cook and eat at home. No more vacations for now,” she said.
Taming inflation remains a sore point four months into President Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s administration.
He got high approval ratings last month on most national issues except for controlling the prices of goods, where he received only a +13 net rating.
It is a sentiment Marco holds to this day as she computes her monthly budget.
“I don’t really see any effort from our government to shield the consumers and lower prices,” she said. “Life is so hard now. We’re barely making it”.