Philstar.com report makes inflation understandable

CHEERS TO Philstar.com for explaining inflation, which affects everyone, starting with what it is, what causes it, and what the Philippine government can do to address it. Published on November 4, the report was timely and comprehensive. 

News headlines have made the term common and current enough, one of the issues that have confronted the second Marcos administration. At its current level, everyone feels the pressure of high prices. But the general public has yet to fully understand the phenomenon and what can be done to ease the problem of rising prices. 

After defining the term, Philstar.com explained the condition as part of a progressive economy; described deflation as its opposite but, pointed out that like inflation, it also causes problems. 

The aim is for economic stability so as to enable people to buy what they need from day to day. Government must set its inflation targets and ensure the stability of the price of goods and services. 

Philstar.com’s approach succeeded to make all this information understandable. Ramon Royandoyan used Filipino and terms understandable to most people. 

The inflation target for 2022 is 2 percent to 4 percent. However, the inflation rate in the country reached 6.7 percent last September. Philstar.com cited some of the factors why the country is currently experiencing a high inflation rate: 

• Fuel price hikes; 
• Continuing disruptions in the supply chain;
• Supplier’s failure to serve the high demand for products, and
• Depreciation of the peso. 

The report said that government was making adjustments, increasing the interest debt rate through the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). But it can do more to ensure food supply, by increasing productivity of agriculture and the distribution of produce. The government could also activate efforts of the Department of Trade and Industry to make sure businesses are compliant with the Consumer Price Act. 

The Philstar.com example is worthy of replication in reporting other developments. News should reach out to the public to enhance their understanding of relevant developments, to help them cope with conditions of hardship. 

More important, such understanding will empower people to voice their concerns, to protest as necessary government’s failure to act and to press for prompt and timely action. Public silence could easily deepen official complacency or worse.