When going to the public market with a shopping list and a thousand pesos, are you assured you can buy everything in your list? Or do you feel the pinch of having to adjust, or make do with what you could afford? Do you feel overwhelmed by the increase in the prices of fish, pork, chicken, dried fish, vegetables etc.? Do not worry, all geographic areas and socio-economic classes are observed to be feeling the same pinch.
Indeed, price hikes in basic commodities, especially food and essentials products, have strongly affected most Filipinos since January 2018, as shown in a Pulse Asia survey of 98 percent out of the 1,200 respondents of their March 2018 Ulat ng Bayan survey.
Most of the respondents cited food items (92 percent) to have increased in prices in the last quarter, topped by rice (81 percent), and non-rice items (67 percent).Other items said to have increased in prices were sugar-sweetened beverages such as soft drinks (56 percent), electricity (30 percent), and transportation-related items (22 percent).
They also noted an increase in prices of health-related needs, cigarettes, alcoholic drinks, cellphone load, water and recreation-related expenses.
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Analysts said the hike in prices of goods is influenced by higher taxes imposed under the new Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law package.
Respondents cited price hikes in gas or diesel (16 percent), LPG (12 percent), and in transport fares (7 percent), as the underlying cause of the increase in prices.
After the hefty oil price hike last Tuesday, it is expected that the prices of consumer goods and commodities will further increase under the “law of supply and demand”.
Last week, the drone attacks at the oil facilities in Saudi Arabia cut the Kingdom’s output by 5.7 million barrels per day, causing a decrease in supply.
This is equivalent to more than five percent of the global oil supply. Due to the limited supply, and the projected increase in demand for the holidays and wintertime in the West, the oil price may rise up to $100 per barrel.
Oil imports account for more than 10 percent of total imports, hence, a big impact on the economy.
The widening trade deficit, and possibly weaker consumption due to lower purchasing power will adversely impact growth. Under this scenario in the first quarter, latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority showed that September inflation accelerated to a nine-year high of 6.7 percent from 6.4 percent in August, driven by faster increases in the prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages.
There was panic-buying in some more affluent areas, but most Filipinos have a tendency to laugh at their misery, and say, “Good for you, all we can do is panic, no buying, after all we have no money!”
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Author’s email: [email protected]
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