Cheaper rice drives February inflation to five-month low
Metro Manila, Philippines - Inflation has cooled for the first time in five months to 2.1% in February driven by cheaper rice thanks to a mandated price range, government statisticians said on Wednesday (March 5).
The price of rice, a heavyweight in the food inflation basket, fell by 4.9% last month, sharper than January’s 2.3% decline, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed.
“Nakikita na natin yung effect nung food security emergency sa inflation natin because… meron tayong na-release na rice buffer stocks from NFA (National Food Authority) ni-release sa LGUs and of course sa Kadiwa rice-for-all program,” PSA Assistant Secretary and Deputy National Statistician Divina Gracia del Prado told a press briefing on Wednesday, March 5, referring to Department Circular No. 3.
That directive was issued on Feb. 3 by the Department of Agriculture and endorsed by economic managers, flooding wet markets with cheap rice from the NFA.
Del Prado said broken rice prices now sell for P33 to P43 per kilogram (kg) from a high of P45/kg.
A proposal to sell the NFA rice in supermarkets and malls could sustain the “negative rice inflation” trend down the road, the PSA official said.
“If that happens, that will also affect the inflation for rice… Our rice inflation will still be negative for the whole year, basta walang biglang shock sa prices [absent price shocks],” Del Prado said.
Inflation had been creeping up since October 2024 in the wake of back-to-back storms and in the runup to the holidays, and only went flat in January when it clocked 2.9%.
Against a backdrop of price pressures and global uncertainties -- especially in tariffs on imports under US President Donald Trump – the central bank took a pause from cutting borrowing costs at its first policy review last February.
February’s five-month low of 2.1% was within the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ forecast range of 2.2% to 3% for the month.
The government also declared a food security emergency to boost rice supply and forced the market to cut the price of the grain.
Pork Liempo prices sizzle
On the other hand, pork prices – which rose by 12.1% in February - are a damper in the bid to bring down food prices.
In Metro Manila, fresh pork liempo or belly fetched for P409.26/kg in January and P428.61 the following month. Fresh price pressures from this food commodity apparently have replaced consumer headache from the spike in tomatoes in December.
“We noticed yung pagtaas ng inflation ng pork… We heard that news na baka maglagay ng maximum SRP for pork but ‘di pa naimplement ito [but this has not yet been implemented],” the PSA said.
