Senate committee: Soaring inflation hurts poor families the most

THE Senate Committee on Economic Affairs will give priority to identifying measures to mitigate the impact of the soaring inflation.

Committee chairman Senator Win Gatchalian said this after the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) revealed that consumer prices in the Philippines were up by 5.7 percent in July, the fastest inflation rate in at least five years.

“In response to this, the Senate Committee on Economic Affairs will hold another hearing to tackle potential inflation mitigation measures. One critical matter to be discussed will be measures aimed at slowing the steady increase of food prices,” Gatchalian said in a statement on Tuesday.

Citing the PSA, Gatchalian said inflation continues to be driven primarily by the acceleration in food and non-alcoholic beverage prices, currently pegged at 7.1 percent.

“Rising food prices have a particularly negative impact on poor families in the bottom 30 percent in terms of income because they spend almost twice as much of their budget (roughly 70 percent) on food alone,” he noted.

The senator also said “it is the priority of the committee to identify solutions to keep food prices down and ensure that poor Filipino families will have enough food to put on the table.”

“Several solutions to curb food inflation have been floated, including the reduction of tariffs on staple foodstuffs,” he added.