What goes up, won’t come down
This inflation shit just won’t end. (Photo: AFP)
When will it end? From insanely high gas prices to the cost of groceries, everything is going up.
Ahead of the Philippine Statistics Authority’s (PSA) consumer price index (CPI) report coming out on May 5, forecasts for April inflation are coming in above 4%. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) target range of price hikes in April? A manageable 2-4%. So yeah, still no signs of going down.
In a poll by the Inquirer, ING’s Nicholas Antonio Mapa had the highest headline inflation forecast of 4.8% year-on-year for April. He attributed his estimate to “upward pressure delivered by surging transport costs and expensive utilities,” adding that “food inflation may trend higher as well, especially for cereal items.”
Persistent inflation is also making its presence felt in stock exchanges all over the world.
Analysts are expecting Philippine stocks to trade lower ahead of the release of local inflation data. The S&P 500 fell 8.8% in April while the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined by nearly 5%, marking the worst monthly performance for both indexes since March 2020. The Nasdaq Composite also dropped 13% in April, marking the index's worst monthly performance since October 2008. But thanks to dip buyers, stocks closed higher at the start of the week while U.S. futures are also up.
It’s clear that this week is gonna see a lot more movement, with the Federal Reserve expected to deliver its biggest rate hike in two decades as it tries to tackle inflation.
Up or down? We’ll know soon enough.
Gambling and new jobs to the rescue?
It can’t be all bad, right? As the world struggles to address inflation, the private business sector made a pledge on Labor Day to create another million quality, decent, and sustainable jobs relevant with the current market conditions.
Led by the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP), the commitment was signed by nine business organizations and three government agencies as a follow-up to the first manifesto signed in June last year promising the said million.
“As we move forward from the lingering pandemic and with an upcoming administration, the program’s thrusts will also be intensified – transcending job creation, to encompass sustaining and transforming jobs to ensure that interventions are timely and relevant with the current labor market conditions,” said ECOP President Sergio Ortiz-Luis Jr.
The local gaming and gambling industry is looking like it's on the rebound as well. State-owned Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) posted a double-digit rise in gambling revenues in the first three months of the year. The gaming regulator raised P11.29 billion from gaming operations in January to March, up 35% compared with P8.36 billion a year ago.
Could this be an indicator of the Philippines’ resilience to inflation? I mean if we still have enough money to gamble, I guess we’re not doing too bad.
According to Warren Buffett, the best thing we can do to fight against inflation is “be exceptionally good at something.” Speaking at the 2022 Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholders meeting, Buffett added that skills, unlike currency, are inflation-proof.
Maybe I should quit writing and study to become a doctor or lawyer.
