PNA file photo MANILA - The chairperson of the House Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday urged the government to expedite the promised relief, including the targeted cash subsidies of PHP500 for low-income families, to help them cope with rising prices of goods and oil prices. In a statement, Albay Representative Joey Salceda said the inflation rate for March at 4 percent is still cause for government action to provide relief to the poorest households, even as "the rate turned out to be still within the target range." "It's at the cusp of breaking the target range, so it should definitely be treated as a trigger for more government action to provide relief," Salceda said. He said the House of Representatives is ready to provide the necessary appropriations cover, or the necessary policy support. "I also anticipate second-round effects to set in in other commodities, although as oil prices have begun to stabilize, I am cautiously hopeful that inflation wil
MANILA - A policy rate hike in the second half of 2022 remains in the horizon for monetary authorities as the jump in inflation rate last March to 4 percent is expected to continue in the coming months. The BSP's key policy rates have been slashed by a total of 200 basis points in 2020 as part of the central bank's measures to help buoy the domestic economy from the pandemic and the rates were again kept steady by the central bank's policy-making Monetary Board (MB) during its meeting last March. During the Philippine economic briefing on Tuesday, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Benjamin Diokno said the MB sees that the current level of policy rates is "appropriate given increased uncertainty surrounding the outlook for both inflation and growth." "However, latest data including the latest inflation number this March suggest that inflation will remain elevated in the coming months," he said. The rate of price increases in the third month this