President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Wednesday said Filipinos should neither panic nor be alarmed despite the weakened peso and higher inflation, assuring the public that the government has measures in available to defend the Philippine currency and cushion the impact of the high prices of commodities.
The President, in an ambush interview, said the continuing high prices of oil in the world market, the supply and the stronger dollar are among the reasons for the lower peso rate against the dollar inflation.
“First of all, do not take it with alarm. We, don’t panic. It is an effect of really of a, still the rising prices of oil and subsequently, the rising prices of fuel and its effect on the economy. However, people can take, can take solace in the fact that our policy towards the peso is to continue to defend the peso as hard as we possibly can. This is, we have all the tools to defend the peso, we have all the means to defend the peso,” Marcos said.
The peso-dollar exchange rate on Wednesday reached about P64 to $1 while inflation was recorded at 7.2 percent in September – up from 6.1 percent in August.
The President said the government is doing all it can to defend the peso and make sure that the value of the peso does not continue to go down relative to the dollar.
“We have the means, as I say. We, our foreign exchange reserves are healthy. And dyan tayo kumuha para idepensa yung peso. So we will continue to defend the peso (We have the means, as I say. We, our foreign exchange reserves are healthy. And we use that to defend the peso. So, we will continue to defend the peso),” Marcos said.
Asked about the government’s actions to control the prices of basic goods, the President said the latest inflation rate is due to the “supply side”.
“It’s a supply side inflation. So, monetary, monetary measures can only go so far. We have to do others, other ways. So, it’s basically, oil, we can do nothing about. Food, we can. And we are doing, again, everything that we can to make sure that the prices of food come down,” he said.
Palace Press Officer Claure Castro, in an interview with Bombo Radyo Cagayan de Oro, maintained that the latest inflation is influenced by the continuing Middle East crisis and the high prices of fuel in the world market.
Castro said the government is doing all it can to ease the impact of the high prices on the public from finding more sources of fuel supply to stabilize the prices to importing even food products like rice and corn to ensure food security and maintain the prices.
“Volatile ang presyo ng krudo, pati po iyung palitan ng dollar. saka ng peso. So, di man ginusto ng Pangulo ito, pero kailangan po natin kaharapin, kailangan lang bigyan ng solusyon para maibsan. Hindi natin masasabi na hindi natin maranasan ang pagtaas ng presyo ng mga bilhin, but still, mini-mitigate, nile-lessen (The price of crude oil is volatile, as is the dollar-peso exchange rate. While this is certainly not something the President desired, it is a reality we must confront. We need to find solutions to alleviate the situation. We cannot claim that we will be entirely spared from rising commodity prices, but efforts are being made to mitigate and lessen the impact),” she said.
Castro also reiterated that the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has also assured the public that there would be no increase in prices of basic products and prime commodities until the end of the year.
Amid this, she still called on manufacturers and producers to keep the prices stable and hold off any price increases as much as possible to support the Filipinos especially the vulnerable sector.