By Philippine News Agency
The leadership of the Philippine Amalgamated Supermarkets Association (PAGASA) has said October’s inflation numbers are likely to show a decline amid government interventions and consumers’ growing intolerance to further price increases.
In an interview on Thursday, PAGASA president Steven Cua said prices of goods commonly sold in supermarkets were notably stable last month, with select items even seeing a slash in prices.
He agreed with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) month-ahead forecast, which predicted headline inflation in October to decelerate to the 5.1 to 5.9 percent range.
This is softer than the country’s 6.1 percent inflation figure in September this year, and substantially lower than the 7.7 percent posted in October 2022.
“Consumers are maxed out with recent price increases… you can’t raise prices anymore without losing market share. From our end, we can really feel inflation getting slower,” Cua told the Philippine News Agency.
It was also mentioned that President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr.’s Executive Order No. 39, which mandated price caps on regular- and well-milled rice, also helped moderate price pressures.
The Philippine Statistics Authority is expected to release October’s inflation numbers next week.
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