MANILA — As the country’s inflation rate continued to slow down in February 2025, the government pledged to continue its proactive efforts to ensure adequate food supplies in the short term while steadily raising agricultural productivity, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported today (March 5) that the country’s headline inflation rate eased to 2.1 percent in February, down from 2.9 percent in January 2025. This is the lowest recorded since September 2024 (1.9%). This was driven by a slowdown in both food (2.6% from 4.0%) and non-food inflation (1.7% from 2.2%).
Notably, rice registered a sharper deflation (-4.9% from -2.3%) with prices decreasing since July 2024 on a month-on-month basis amid easing international prices and reduced tariffs. Vegetable inflation decelerated to 7.1 percent from 21.1 percent in the previous month. These offset the faster inflation in meat (8.8% from 6.4%).
Inflation for the bottom 30 percent also fell to 1.5% in February 2025, lower than the headline inflation rate and down from 2.4% in January this year.
“The government will sustain its efforts to keep inflation low and manageable to protect the purchasing power of Filipinos. As we expect six to 13 typhoons to develop from March to August 2025, the Department of Agriculture (DA) will implement the La Niña action plan to restore agricultural productive capacity in areas likely to be affected by continuous rainfall, flooding, and landslides,” NEDA Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan said.
“The action plan includes water management, financial assistance and credit support, and a massive information campaign on La Niña,” he added.
Meanwhile, to mitigate the impact of rising fuel prices on farmers, the DA implemented the Fuel Assistance to Farmers Project. As of January 28, 2025, 74.3 percent of the targeted beneficiaries for 2023 have received fuel assistance cards. For 2024, 54.1 percent of the targeted beneficiaries have been processed for funding.
Furthermore, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. signed Executive Order (EO) No. 83 on February 13, 2025,granting real property tax relief to independent power producers operating under Build-Operate-Transfer contracts with government-owned or – controlled corporations. The EO eased the financial burden on IPPs, and helped ensure a stable electricity supply.
In the livestock industry, measures to address the ASF are being accelerated. The Inter-Agency Committee on Inflation and Market Outlook and the Economic Development Group advised the DA-Bureau of Animal Industry to speed up the collection of post-vaccination results from 28 hog farms and quickly submit the analysis to the Food and Drug Administration. This will help accelerate product registration for the commercial use of the African Swine Fever vaccine.
For the medium term, the Department of Science and Technology has funded the Brisk Response through In-location Diagnostics and Genomic Sequencing System for Animal Disease Testing and Vaccine Research Project, which is expected to be completed in August 2026.
“The downward trend in headline inflation indicates that our efforts to combat inflationary pressures are working. However, we will not be complacent in addressing causes of commodity price increases, particularly for food, to help uplift the lives of poor and vulnerable Filipino families, especially,” said Balisacan.
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