The Philippines should prepare for higher inflation if the conflict between Ukraine and Russia worsens, Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Secretary Joey Concepcion said Friday.

During the ''Laging Handa'' virtual public briefing, Concepcion said the conflict in Ukraine and Russia is "quite alarming" as prices of commodities could be affected.

"We hope that the war between Ukraine and Russia won't get worse because it may really cause more (price) increases," he said.

"We're not able to entirely hedge the entire year with the lower prices, so we should brace ourselves for price increases. So, inflation will go up and, of course, the consumers cannot absorb all the price increase so there will be a margin squeeze," he added.

Amid the possible effect of the Russian and Ukraine conflict, Concepcion stressed the importance of strengthening the economy to withstand its possible effect in the Philippines.

"It is important to reopen the economy in the Philippines as soon as possible, especially in the area with about 80 percent vaccination rate, you need a strong economy to withstand any of the effects that the Ukraine and Russia conflict will bring about to the world in terms of increases in commodity prices. And our private sector, the business people and entrepreneurs have to be well prepared for this situation," he said.

"Now, we open the economy, we have to strengthen it, we have to get our entrepreneurs, we capitalize, hopefully, the banks will start lending more money to our MSMEs, with the help of the government to improve their business," he added.

Concepcion said with declaration of Alert Level 1, "more businesses can resume so at least they can start earning money and better prepare themselves for whatever may happen in this war" .

"Whatever happens, if we have a resilient economy and we are able to tame the inflation here, then we should make it. Now, that is why we have to prepare and how do we prepare, we open the economy wherever possible," he said.

"If the LGUs are 80 percent fully vaccinated, let us open. They are in the safe zone. So, there is no other way to do it , but open the economy so we can be, our economy can withstand any external pressure," he added. Robina Asido/DMS