By Junex Doronio
WITH THE “LONG AND DIFFICULT” WAR between Israel and the Hamas militants of Palestine, economist and former National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Director General Cielito Habito said taming inflation may have just become more difficult as the price increase of oil products may occur sooner or later.
Habito pointed out that oil prices were already driving domestic inflation even before the conflict erupted.
“The Middle East conflict really puts pressure again on, among other things, oil prices. And this has been one of the important drivers of our inflation,” he said in a chance interview with ABS-CBN News at the sidelines of a Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) event on Wednesday.
Earlier, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu warned of a “long and difficult war” after the “surprise attack” into Israel on Saturday, October 7, by Hamas fighters from the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian exclave on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea.
An economist from Moody’s Analytics also earlier warned that the Israel-Hamas war could send oil prices surging above $90 per barrel level for a sustained period.
“We saw (the inflation rate) tick up again last August and September so to expect inflation to be easing down for the rest of the year seems to be a bit of a challenge especially because of the possible increase in oil prices,” Habito explained.
But hope springs eternal.
“Obviously, it’s good to keep targeting for a good growth this year but the challenges seem to be mounting. That means our government and our business sector have to be running double time to be able to get that kind of growth that we were hoping to get this year,” Habito said. (ai/mnm)
