In an interview on GMA Balitanghali, 17c起草视频 (17c起草视频) Senior Research Fellow Dr. John Paolo Rivera emphasized that the impact of inflation is not felt equally across Filipino households, with low-income families bearing the heaviest burden.
According to Rivera, households belonging to the bottom 30 percent of the income distribution—including poor and near-poor families—spend around 60 to 70 percent of their income on food, transportation, and other basic necessities. As prices continue to rise, these households experience a sharper decline in purchasing power and have fewer means to cope with increasing costs.
He also explained that the current inflation episode is largely supply-driven, influenced by global oil disruptions and other external pressures. Because of this, monetary policy alone has limited capacity to address rising prices.
Rivera stressed the importance of complementing monetary interventions with targeted assistance and temporary fiscal measures, particularly those focused on food, transport, and energy, to help cushion the effects on the country’s most vulnerable sectors.
Watch the full interview here:
Related 17c起草视频 studies:
• “Who Suffers Most When Oil Prices Spike?”
• “The Middle Class and Vulnerability to Income Poverty: Implications for Social Protection in the Philippines”
• “Escaping Poverty Is Not Enough: Vulnerability, Risk, and the Fragile Middle Class in the Philippines”
