MANILA — The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported that inflation for 2024 averaged at 3.2%, falling within the government’s target range of 2-4%. This marks a significant improvement compared to the 6% inflation rate in 2023.

In December 2024, inflation slowed to 2.9%, largely driven by a decrease in food and non-alcoholic beverage prices, which rose by just 4.4% compared to 7.9% in 2023. Food inflation specifically dropped from 8% in 2023 to 4.5% last year.

National Statistician Dennis Mapa highlighted that rice inflation slowed to just 0.8%, the lowest since January 2022. He added that negative rice inflation is expected for January 2025.

The deceleration in inflation was also attributed to the housing, water, electricity, and fuel sectors, where inflation dropped to 1.7% from 4.9% in 2023. Other commodity groups, except education services, showed a decline in their average inflation for 2024.

Key Contributing Factors:

Lower food and housing inflation

Stabilized rice prices

Financial services recorded a decline in inflation from 0% in 2023 to -0.6% in 2024

NEDA Secretary Arsenio Balisacan hailed the 3.2% inflation as a notable success, emphasizing the effectiveness of the combined efforts to control inflation despite challenges. He reassured that the government would build on this momentum in 2025, aiming to keep inflation within target.

The government is also focused on ensuring food and water security, especially as PAGASA predicts La Niña conditions to persist until February 2025. Furthermore, the NEDA plans to expand projects aimed at supporting the most vulnerable populations, including the expansion of water access and nutrition programs in local communities.

In support of the agriculture sector, recent amendments to the Agricultural Tariffication Law have increased the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund to PHP30 billion annually, ensuring better resilience for the rice sector.

In addition, the government is facilitating the hog industry’s recovery by enabling the timely withdrawal of frozen pork stocks and fast-tracking the approval of African swine fever vaccines for commercial use.

Looking Ahead to 2025:

As the Philippines enters 2025, Balisacan remains optimistic that strategic, timely measures will continue to curb inflation while fostering economic growth and improving food security. He emphasized the importance of innovation, productivity, and resilience in supporting Filipinos’ purchasing power and promoting an inclusive, stable economy.

IA/MNM

By Junex Doronio

MANILA – The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) acknowledged on Thursday, August 15, 2024, that its current threshold for determining whether a person is “food poor” is inadequate to meet daily nutritional or dietary needs. The PSA also mentioned that the methodology used to set this food poverty ceiling is currently under review.

The controversy began on Tuesday, August 13, 2024, when the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) announced that as of 2023, the food threshold is set at ₱9,581 annually, which translates to ₱64 per person per day, or ₱21.33 per meal. NEDA claimed that only those spending below ₱64 per day would be considered “food-poor.”

IBON Foundation Executive Director Sonny Africa criticized the government’s approach, urging a more realistic calculation of the food poverty threshold.

“A low-ambition, low-poverty threshold results in low efforts to address poverty, ensuring the continued growth of hidden poverty in the Philippines,” Africa remarked.

He emphasized the need for accurate poverty thresholds to effectively combat poverty in the country, arguing that ambitious targets for poverty reduction must be based on realistic data.

“It’s easy for them to claim that poverty will be reduced to single digits by the end of the Marcos administration…but that’s not truly reducing poverty. We believe the government should adopt a more realistic poverty threshold to increase ambition in poverty reduction and take the necessary steps to achieve it,” Africa stressed.

The National Nutrition Council (NNC) also criticized NEDA’s calculation, pointing out that ₱64 a day is insufficient to provide an individual with adequate energy and nutrients.

ia/mnm

By Liezelle Soriano

MANILA — The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) has been cooperating with the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) regarding the investigation of falsified birth certificates.

In its advisory, the PSA stated it has “conducted verification and provided necessary information related to the birth records under investigation to the NBI.”

According to the NBI, almost 200 falsified birth certificates were issued to individuals, most of them Chinese nationals, by the civil registry in Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur. These documents were issued between 2018 and 2019, the NBI added.

The PSA reported that the concerned Civil Registrar was relieved of duties by the Local Chief Executive, following the PSA’s recommendation after a fact-finding investigation conducted by the agency in a similar incident last year.

“The PSA assures the public that appropriate measures will be continuously pursued, including conducting thorough investigations, collaborating with law enforcement agencies, blocking doubtful birth records in the PSA database, and building cases for possible filing of petitions for the cancellation of birth records/certificates,” the advisory added.

The agency also encouraged the public to report illegal or unauthorized activities involving civil registration documents (CRDs).

(el Amigo/mnm)

By Liezelle Soriano

MANILA — The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) has clarified that there was no data leak in the National ID system, despite circulating information on social media regarding an alleged massive hacking attack on the National ID database.

In its official statement, the PSA emphasized that it promptly investigated to verify the information. After the initial assessment, it concluded that there was no leak in the National ID database.

“As the central authority on official statistics and the implementing agency of civil registration and the National ID system, the PSA takes such allegations seriously and immediately investigated the claims in the said posts,” the statement read.

“Based on the initial assessment, the PSA found no leak in the National ID database.”

The PSA also mentioned that further investigation is being conducted regarding the alleged data leak in the National ID system.

Furthermore, the PSA urged the public to remain vigilant of unverified information circulating online.

(el Amigo/MNM)

By Junex Doronio

MANILA  — Despite the rosy picture that the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) tried to impress that on a year-on-year basis, the employment situation improved, still there were 2.15 million unemployed Filipino workers in January 2024, up from the 1.6 million jobless workers in December last year.

National Statistician, Undersecretary Dennis Mapa on Friday pointed out that the jobless rate in January 2023 was 4.8 percent or 2.38 million unemployed.

He said the jobless rate was seen at 4.5 percent in January, which was higher than the 3.1 percent seen in December.

It can also be noted that on a quarter-on-quarter basis, the jobless rate was also higher compared to the 4.2 percent clip seen in October last year, which corresponded to 2.09 million unemployed workers.

Aside from unemployment woes, the underemployment rate also rose to 13.9 percent from 11.9 percent in December 2023.

This translates to 6.39 million out of the 45.94 million employed Pinoys who were looking for additional work hours or extra jobs.

(el Amigo/MNM)

By Junex Doronio

MANILA — Only 36 out of 1,000 Filipinos are jobless and the trend of declining joblessness under the administration of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. is seemingly encouraging.

This was bared on Tuesday by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) which noted in its Labor Force Survey that the number of jobless Filipinos in the labor force declined further in November 2023.

 “Ang unemployment rate ay naitala sa 3.6 percent, o tatlumpu’t anim sa kada isang libo, na indibidwal na nasa labor force ang walang trabaho o negosyo nitong Nobyembre 2023,” PSA chief and National Statistician Claire Dennis Mapa said at a press briefing.

Mapa said the number of unemployed individuals, ages 15 and above, went down to 1.83 million from 2.09 million in October 2023.

The PSA cited that year-on-year, the number of unemployed during the period was fewer by 350,000 compared to 2.18 million jobless persons in November last year.

Mapa further revealed that the unemployment rate stood at 3.6% as a percentage of the total 51.47 million people in the labor force who are actively seeking work.

(el Amigo/MNM)