The country’s inflation rate slowed significantly in February 2025, easing to 2.1% from 2.9% in January, its lowest level in nearly six months, as price pressures across both food and non-food sectors continued to subside.
Food inflation eased notably, falling to 2.6% from 4.0% in January, while non-food inflation slowed to 1.7% from 2.2%, according to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
The decline in food prices was primarily driven by a sharp decline in rice, which saw a deflation of -4.9%, compared to -2.3% the previous month. Rice prices have been steadily falling since July 2024, fueled by lower international prices and reduced tariffs.
Vegetable inflation also slowed significantly, dropping to 7.1% from 21.1%, helping to offset the rise in meat inflation, which increased to 8.8% from 6.4%.
In addition, inflation for the country’s bottom 30% income group fell to 1.5% in February, outperforming the headline rate and marking a decrease from 2.4% in January.
Despite the ongoing decline in inflation, the Marcos administration has reassured the public that it will remain focused on managing price pressures.
“The government will sustain its efforts to keep inflation low and manageable to protect the purchasing power of Filipinos,” Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said.
To protect agricultural productivity from potential climate disruptions, the Department of Agriculture (DA) is rolling out its La Niña action plan to help farming communities mitigate the impacts of heavy rainfall, flooding, and landslides.
“The action plan includes water management, financial assistance, and credit support, and a massive information campaign on La Niña,” Balisacan, also the secretary-general of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), added.
Additionally, the DA has rolled out a Fuel Assistance to Farmers Project to counter the rising costs of fuel. As of January 2025, over 74% of targeted beneficiaries for 2023 have received fuel assistance cards, while 54% of 2024 beneficiaries have been processed for funding.
To further ease financial pressures, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed Executive Order No. 83 on February 13, 2025, which grants real property tax relief to independent power producers under Build-Operate-Transfer contracts with government-owned or -controlled corporations. This move aims to reduce costs for power producers and ensure a stable electricity supply.
In the livestock sector, the government is accelerating efforts to address the African Swine Fever (ASF) crisis. The Inter-Agency Committee on Inflation and Market Outlook, along with the Economic Development Group, has urged the Bureau of Animal Industry to expedite the collection of post-vaccination results from hog farms. This will speed up the process of registering the ASF vaccine for commercial use, the inter-agency committee said.
For the longer term, the Department of Science and Technology is funding a project to improve animal disease testing and vaccine research, with completion expected by August 2026.
“The downward trend in headline inflation indicates that our efforts to combat inflationary pressures are working,” Balisacan said.
“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,” the NEDA chief added.