Philippine inflation soars to 7.2% in April, with the poor hardest hit

Price rises linked to the oil crisis triggered by the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz have caused the sharpest surge in the Philippines in the last three years in the prices of essential goods and transport fares. This trend is hitting low-income families and those living in rural areas of the Visayas hardest.

Manila (AsiaNews) - Inflation is ‘biting’ the Philippines harder than other countries in the ASEAN economic area, where initial projections had forecast an inflation rate of 1.4% for the current year, already revised to 3.6%.

Given the domestic and international situation (starting with the impact of the shortage of energy products and other imported goods caused by the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz), economic planners in Manila had expected the April monthly figure to show a rise in national inflation of 5.5 per cent; but the actual figure recorded shows an even sharper rise to 7.2%, the highest level in the last three years, driven by food and transport. This surge has already pushed the inflation rate calculated from 1 January to 3.9%.

Today, the Philippine National Statistics Office highlights how rising costs of fuel, tariffs, electricity and basic foodstuffs are placing the greatest burden on the poorest households, whose spending is concentrated on essential goods. It is they who have faced an average price increase of 4.2 per cent since January compared to 2025.

The rise in the level and impact of inflation was driven by the surge between March and April in the cost of food, transport and utilities, which for the 30 per cent of the population with the lowest incomes stood at 8.5 per cent. The figure highlights how the pressure has been concentrated on expenditure on goods and services that are difficult to cut back on. Whilst for the poor, food and non-alcoholic drinks account for over half of the increase, within their ‘basket’ – which overall saw an increase between March and April from 3.9% to 8.4% – the prices of rice, maize, fish and vegetables, as well as housing, water, electricity and fuel, which contributed 17.7 per cent to the rise, whilst transport accounted for 14.9 per cent.

It is significant, though partly attributable to higher transport costs in areas further from the arrival and distribution centres for energy products, that inflation rose more sharply in rural areas (7.7%) than in urban areas, and particularly in Metro Manila, where the cost of essential goods and services rose from 3.4% to 5.2% between March and April. The largest increase at regional level was recorded in the central part of the archipelago, the Visayas, at 10.8%.