Press Release - Gatchalian urges economic managers to focus on addressing inflation for bottom 30% of income households

Senator Win Gatchalian urged the country's economic managers to focus on addressing inflation for the bottom 30% of income households or the poorest of the poor.

Gatchalian noted that while headline inflation for all income households has eased substantially from high rates seen in the second half of 2022 through the first half of 2023, inflation for the bottom 30% of income households has remained elevated.

He pointed out that in 2022, headline inflation averaged 5.8% even as the inflation rate for the bottom 30% of income households was higher at 6.6%. Last year, headline inflation for all income households averaged 6.0% against inflation for the bottom 30% of 6.7%. This year, headline inflation for all income households in the first six months was at 3.6% while inflation for the bottom 30% remained higher at 4.8%.

The higher inflation rate experienced by the bottom 30% of income households was due mostly to high prices of food items, said Gatchalian.

"Our constituents are very sensitive to the price of food and rice. This is something I want to highlight because typically we only look at the headline inflation but it is obvious that the poorest segment of our society feels the impact of high inflation much greater compared to the rest of the population," Gatchalian said during a recent Senate briefing on the 2025 proposed budget.

According to him, the government needs to put in place programs that will address the high inflation rate for the bottom 30% of income households.

The chair of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means, Gatchalian emphasized that while a plan to reduce import tariff on rice is expected to lower grain prices in the near to medium term, the government also needs to come up with a long-term strategy to strengthen the supply chain and boost production and supply to mitigate inflationary pressures.

He further stressed that the government needs to ensure that financial aid through various government programs should be implemented effectively. "The different programs of the government providing financial aid should be targeted and it should get into the hands of those who need it the most," Gatchalian said.

The government has proposed a budget