The country’s inflation rate this month is unlikely to breach the figure recorded in February, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said.
The country’s headline inflation rate for February 2024 increased slightly to 3.4 percent from 2.8 percent in January.
“I don’t think that it will go higher than what we had last month. Especially that this push for legislated wages appears not to be gaining ground,” NEDA secretary Arsenio Balisacan said at the sidelines of the signing of the Private-Public Partnership (PPP) Code’s Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) in Mandaluyong City yesterday.
“That’s so far what we are seeing but of course, I might be surprised again by PSA (Philippine Statistics Authority). So we’ll see,” he added.
February’s inflation remains within the government’s target range of two to four percent.
The uptick last month was driven by a faster food inflation rate of 4.8 percent, up from 3.3 percent in January, caused by higher prices of rice and meat.
The March inflation figure will be released on April 5.
Meanwhile, the government expressed confidence PPPs for high-quality social and development infrastructure will continue to thrive under a predictable policy environment with the completion of the IRR of the PPP Code.
“We are in a hurry to get strategic investments to increase our economy’s growth potential. The momentum for reform and action is strong, and we are pulling out all the stops for investors who wish to do business in one of the most promising economies in the region,” Balisacan said.
The PPP Code and its IRR aim to strengthen and institutionalize PPPs in the country by providing a unified legal framework for all PPPs at both national and local levels.
This legislation clarifies the ambiguities in the Build-Operate-Transfer Law, which was last amended in 1994, and other existing PPP legal frameworks.
Undersecretary Ma. Cynthia Hernandez, the executive director of the PPP Center, expressed confidence that the PPP Code IRR reflects the needs and perspectives of all stakeholders.
During the briefing, Hernandez said: “Under the infrastructure flagship projects, around 45 are PPPs. These are in various stages of development, some of them are being assisted by the PPP Center as well to go through the solicited route. Within the year, a substantial number of those would be submitted to NEDA, we’re thinking around 20, to the ICC (Investment Coordination Committee).”
“Even prior to the passing of the IRR, the PPP Center has already received and processed over 20 unsolicited proposals, because the reform is that the unsolicited proposals first go through PPP center for a completeness check. So in the three months since the law was passed, we’ve actually processed more than 20 unsolicited proposals already,” she added.
After its signing, the copy of the IRR will be available to the public on March 22, 2024. The IRR will take effect 15 calendar days after publication or on April 6, 2024.
