Marcos rules out recession | The Juan Kabayan

(UPDATE) AMID high inflation, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. is confident the Philippines will not fall into a recession.

In a video message on Thursday, the President said his administration has been prioritizing the generation of jobs.

“Ang balita na tumaas ang inflation rate na hanggang 8 percent last November, mayroon naman kasabay na mas magandang balita na bumaba ang unemployment rate sa 4.5 percent mula sa 5 percent (There’s better news than the high inflation rate in November because the unemployment rate dropped from 5 percent to 4.5 percent),” he said.

A country is considered in recession, a period of economic slump, when the gross domestic product drops in two successive quarters.

The 4.5 percent in October is the lowest since the similar 4.5 percent in pre-pandemic October 2019.

Get the latest news


delivered to your inbox

Sign up for The Juan Kabayan’ daily newsletters

By signing up with an email address, I acknowledge that I have read and agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

The preliminary results of the Philippine Statistics Authority’s (PSA) latest labor force survey released on Wednesday showed the number of unemployed was down to 2.24 million in October from 3.5 million a year ago, with 1.26 million securing jobs this year.

The employment rate in October also rose to 95.5 percent, from 95 percent in the previous month, the highest since January 2020.

Inflation jumped to 8 percent in November, the fastest since November 2009’s 9.1 percent and surpassing the 14-year high of 7.7 percent in October, the PSA said.

Marcos gave assurances that the government is implementing measures to bring down inflation and reduce the soaring prices of commodities.

“Asahan ninyo na lahat ng paraan maaari nating gawin ay gagawin natin para pababain ang inflation rate (Be assured that we are doing everything we can to lower the inflation and slow down the surging prices of goods),” he said.