Palace says it’s too early to say high inflation in January due to TRAIN

February 7, 2018

Malacanang said on Wednesday it was too early to blame the new tax measure for the Philippines' high inflation in January.

In a phone patch interview with reporters, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said that additional excise tax in some products, particularly on oil and gasoline, was only done recently when the old inventory was used up.

"In my view, there could be other reason (for registering high inflation). One of them is the high prices of oil in the world market," he said.

He also noted that increases of some products due to Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Act was just minimal.

He cited the earlier statement of Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III that inflation could rise by 0.7 percent only due to TRAIN.

Inflation surged to 4 percent in January, highest in over three years and the high end full year target of the government.

While Roque seemed to be in denial that high prices were due to TRAIN, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia earlier warned  the government should ensure mitigation measures must be in place to cushion the transitory inflationary impact of TRAIN law.

Roque said more time is needed to find out if TRAIN Act indeed has effect on inflation.

He added there  is no increase yet in public transport fares. Celerina Monte/DMS