Marcos forms inter-agency body to address inflation

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. has ordered the creation of an inter-agency committee that will be tasked to address inflation and enhance initiatives to improve the country’s economy, the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) said on Sunday.

The PCO said that Executive Order No. 28, signed by President Marcos on Friday, states that the Inter-Agency Committee on Inflation and Market Outlook (IAC-IMO) shall serve as an advisory body to the Economic Development Group (EDG) on measures that “would keep inflation, particularly of food and energy, within the government's inflation targets.”

Likewise, it said that the EO reorganized and renamed the Economic Development Cluster (EDC) as the EDG, citing a need to “ensure that the integration of programs, activities, and priorities toward sustained economic growth remains efficient and effective.”

“In view of the increasing prices of key commodities, particularly food and energy resources, the creation of an advisory body to the EDC, tasked to directly address inflation, will strengthen the EDC, and reinforce existing government initiatives aimed to improve the economy and the quality of life of the Filipino people,” par of the EO reads.

The Philippine economy, as measured by gross domestic product (GDP) or the total value of goods and services produced in a specific period, grew by 6.4%  from January to March 2023.

This is slower than the 8% growth rate seen in the first quarter of 2022 and lower than the downwardly revised 7.1% growth recorded in the fourth quarter of 2022.

The IAC-EMO will have the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary as chair; Finance Secretary as co-chair; Budget Secretary as vice-chair; and the secretaries of Agriculture, Energy, Science and Technology, Trade, and Interior as members.

Among their functions are to closely monitor the main drivers of inflation, particularly food and energy, and their proximate sources and causes; assess the supply-demand situation for essential food commodities during the cropping period, allowing periodic updating as new information becomes available; assess the possible impact of natural and man-made shocks on the supply of key food commodities; and regularly monitor data necessary to assess food prices and the supply and demand situation.

IAC-EMO is also expected to facilitate regular and efficient data sharing among concerned agencies to effect timely supply and demand situation analysis; monitor global, regional, and domestic developments and issues that may affect prices; and provide timely recommendations to the EDG and relevant agencies on measures to curb price spikes and promote food security based on ex-ante supply and demand analysis.

Marcos also ordered the body to submit a report to the EDG of the country's food and energy supply and demand situation and outlook every quarter, or as the circumstances may require.

The report shall include recommendations on short, medium, and long-term measures to manage inflation.

The IAC-IMO shall also formulate and maintain a dashboard containing relevant information on prices, as well as the supply and demand for food and energy commodities. —LBG, GMA Integrted News