SENATORIAL candidate Herbert “Bistek” Bautista has asked the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to keep inflation rates in check as he noted how the continuing war in Ukraine has made life more difficult for Filipinos who are still recovering from the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bautista said the BSP should try to keep inflation rates between 3 to 4 percent to lessen the impact of US Fed rate hikes on Philippine consumers.
“If inflation exceeds 4 percent and reaches 7 percent every month, that would be a heavy burden on our people. The BSP should help tame inflation as much as it can,” said the three-term mayor of Quezon City. “Our consumers will have a tougher time, especially since they have yet to fully recover from the impact of the pandemic.,” he added.
“Prices of goods will rise, the peso will weaken. We will lose the chance to buy and import food for our people,” he also said.
Bautista is running on a platform of Internet reform, Livelihood for all and Youth development (ILY) and Pagkain para sa Pamilyang Pilipino (Food for Filipino Families).
Last week, at least four international economic think tanks — Goldman Sachs, Singapore’s UOB, Capital Economics and Pantheon Macroeconomics — warned that Philippine inflation risked intensifying in the coming months because of the war in Ukraine.
Goldman Sachs said in a report that inflation was likely to rise above 4 percent, which would prompt the BSP to maintain its low interest rates of 2 percent that was put in place during the pandemic.
