The government maintained Wednesday that the inflation rate for June 2022 reached 6.1 percent, as reported by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), and clarified that President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos, Jr. was misunderstood during a press conference following the new administration’s first Cabinet meeting.

Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno issued the clarification, saying that President Marcos, Jr. was referring to the full-year inflation figure, of which the year-to-date average is currently at 4.4 percent.

''I think the President was not disputing the monthly, the data of June at 6.1%. I think he has in mind, the year-to-date,'' Diokno told ANC's Dateline Philippines.

Both June and year-to-date inflation numbers are within the forecast range of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC), with the BSP’s June forecast being 5.7 to 6.5 percent. The full-year forecast, meanwhile, is at 3.7 to 4.7 percent based on the DBCC’s macroeconomic assumptions as of May 24.

Diokno also said that the President was correct in saying that the current high inflation rate for June is a problem not only in the Philippines but everywhere.

"Among our peers, Indonesia’s overall inflation climbed to 4.4 percent in June from 3.6 percent in May. Meanwhile, Thailand’s inflation rate increased to 7.7 percent in June from 7.1 percent in May. Inflation in the Euro zone stood at 8.6 percent in June, the highest in 11 years. Meanwhile, the United States’ inflation rate in May reached a 40-year high of 8.6 percent," said Diokno.

The uptick in the June inflation rate was driven by faster price adjustments in operation of personal transport equipment; electricity, gas, and other fuels; and meat and other parts of slaughtered land animals.

Diokno assured the public that the government is diligently working to maintain price stability.

"Rest assured, the recent acceleration of inflation will be arrested by the government through addressing constraints in the food, energy, and transportation and logistics sectors," said Diokno.

Among the measures the government is implementing to ease the impact of inflationary pressures on the transport sector is the provision of fuel subsidies worth P6,500 for public utility vehicle operators and drivers.

“Considering that oil prices are expected to remain elevated in the near term, the government will expedite the release of the second tranche of subsidies for the transport sector,” Diokno said. DOF