Inflation? or Government GREED?

[Jack Peterson]

Just up on Screen a few moments ago   To me it is Greed, mainly I feel, to cover up things

[Rooster]

1 hour ago, Jack Peterson said:

Just up on Screen a few moments ago   To me it is Greed, mainly I feel, to cover up things

Google; cause of inflation, Philippines

There are some good articles. I see it as demand driven, no cover up. In the area where I live there are projects everywhere. Concrete roads and by pass roads, malls, 2 lane roads and bridges converted to 4 lanes, Toll road freeway extensions, etc. The economy is booming, land prices are skyrocketing a middle class is rapidly growing.

 

[Jack Peterson]

1 minute ago, Rooster said:

In the area where I live there are projects everywhere. Concrete roads and by pass roads, malls, 2 lane roads and bridges converted to 4 lanes,

Sure and the rest of us in the provinces are paying for it as we are told, NO budget Nice for you But.....................

[Rooster]

10 minutes ago, Jack Peterson said:

Sure and the rest of us in the provinces are paying for it as we are told, NO budget Nice for you But.....................

I also live where it's considered a province (La Union).

Cost of living & inflation is rapidly rising here but we are starting to see more Expats moving in the area from Angels & Subic saying they can no longer to afford to live in those locations because rent prices are rising due to supply & demand & they are on fixed incomes.

[Jack Peterson]

3 minutes ago, Rooster said:

rent prices are rising due to supply & demand & they are on fixed incomes.

Exactly my Point and many of the Filipinos are on a damn sight less than us, As usual they are pandering to a class that never needed help, When will they give a 3% increase in their money to help support this laughable Inflation. Crime rates will rise as we were told is happening already in some areas,  What will they do next " Feed them Cake " Never mind new Roads and luxurious Living for the Middle Classes , FEED your Population First, For me, end of because I am old enough to have seen this Happen in other places and can feel a revolt rising, over what, 100.000+ population and all they care about is the Big island and those with big money.  I am not a Politically minded or posting person but I can see this ending in tears.

 Only now, as I write this my Wife is attending an Emergency Strategic meeting with reference to a further Electric Hike on our Island, Where will it end. ANARCHY I suspect. I often tell my Wife Please don't tell me where the Money has gone, tell me why it needed to go there. So, as I can see this turning into something we can't do anything about 

 Jack

 Morning All 

 

 Edit before posting My neighbours (4) have all lost their jobs this morning because the Foreigner who is building has halted the Job because of Massive rises in materials and Transport cost of delivery. This is the Start as I see it. Thank Goodness I am at an Age where I can  term a good old British Saying " I'm alright Jack"  ( coined by peter sellers  in a film of the same title) But I certainly do worry for the Little people 

[Rooster]

28 minutes ago, Jack Peterson said:

 Only now, as I write this my Wife is attending an Emergency Strategic meeting with reference to a further Electric Hike on our Island, Where will it end. ANARCHY I suspect. I often tell my Wife Please don't tell me where the Money has gone, tell me why it needed to go there. So, as I can see this tu

Front page of todays Phil Star; Another Fuel Price increase as well.  

Hefty price hike: P1.45 for diesel, P1 for gas

Danessa Rivera (The Philippine Star) - October 9, 2018 - 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — Another round of fuel price hikes took effect yesterday – the ninth consecutive week of increase for gasoline prices and the seventh for diesel.

Oil companies yesterday raised gasoline prices by P1 per liter, diesel by P1.45 and kerosene by P1.35 per liter.

The substantial increases came in the wake of Brent crude’s price hitting a four-year high last week.

Flying V, Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp., PTT Philippines Corp., Seaoil Philippines Inc. and Total Philippines Corp. implemented their respective price adjustments at 6 a.m.

Caltex, Eastern Petroleum, Petron Corp., Phoenix Petroleum Philippines Inc. and UniOil Petroleum Philippines Inc. have yet to announce their price adjustments.

The country’s dependence on oil importation explained the steady rise in local pump prices, Petroleum Players Association of the Philippines president Fernando Martinez said.

“We’re entirely dependent on world oil price as we import 99.99 percent of oil requirements,” he said.

Brent crude reached its highest price since late 2014 at $86.74 on Wednesday, Reuters reported.

Moreover, peso weakness was pushing fuel prices further, Martinez said.

“Of course, deterioration of peso-dollar contributed .18 per liter for every peso drop while VAT will be added,” he said. “The higher the price, the higher the VAT since it’s 12 percent regardless of the base prices. Added is the excise tax on diesel, which used to be exempted.”

The peso fell to a fresh 13-year low last Thursday, closing at P54.32 against the dollar.

Earlier, Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said his agency is exhausting all options to mitigate rising fuel prices and called for the practice of fuel efficiency measures.

“We’ve been exploring higher and expanded fuel discounts to public utility vehicles, looking at nearby countries for lower priced supply and even went to unpopular options to ensure that consumers are protected from the impact of this global price situation,” he said.

Vice President Leni Robredo, for her part, is reiterating her appeal to the government to suspend excise tax on fuel as the country’s inflation rate hit a record-high 6.7 percent last month.

“One thing we are asking this government since last month is to suspend the implementation of the second tranche of excise tax on petroleum products because the next increase has been set already as provided under the TRAIN law,” Robredo said, referring to Republic Act 10963 or the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law.

Excise tax worsens problem

Like her allies in the Senate, the Vice President also believes inflation is fueled in part by the excise taxes on petroleum products under the TRAIN law.

The law, which was implemented in January this year, added P2.65 excise tax per liter to the pump price of gasoline plus P0.32 per liter as value-added tax (VAT) for a total of P2.97 per liter.

For diesel, P2.50 was added as excise tax per liter plus P0.30 as VAT for a total of P2.80 per liter. Diesel used to be free of VAT and excise tax.

TRAIN also imposed excise and VAT on aviation fuel, kerosene, fuel oil, liquefied petroleum gas and auto LPG.

The second tranche of excise tax under TRAIN is set to add P2.24 per liter to the price of gasoline and P2.24 per liter for diesel as excise and value-added taxes.

The law provides that the excise tax on fuel can be suspended should prices of Dubai crude reach $80 per barrel. –

https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2018/10/09/1858553/hefty-price-hike-p145-diesel-p1-gas

[hk blues]

At least we can trust the shopowners etc not to jump on the bandwagon and needlessly increase prices above what is needed to compensate for the fuel hike! 

[Jack Peterson]

10 minutes ago, Rooster said:

Vice President Leni Robredo, for her part, is reiterating her appeal to the government to suspend excise tax on fuel as the country’s inflation rate hit a record-high 6.7 percent last month.

 Yes as it should be, The Philippines is not a poor country the people are poor, they can easily  absorb this at this time. but rooster I don't think you and I are on the same page here.

 You have house to rent that it is 10/11 years old, Why is the rent to rise above the 1% it should be. Greed

 Now I take all things that are said and push a lot out of my mind because it is not always relevant. What is Important is that those in the Big House up there are just not looking after the Little people,

 Now have a read if you will at what others have to say that will to some degree support my Statement of  a Revolt coming 

Economics

There's an Inflation Crisis Brewing in the Philippines

 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-09-12/inflation-crisis-brewing-in-the-philippines-is-hurting-consumers

and that I feel is all I am going to say on this 

[Dave Hounddriver]

I am not convinced this inflation is about greed.  To be precise, I am not convinced the 7% inflation is about greed.  I believe it has more to do with the value of the US$

Anything worth having in the Philippines is imported.  I import a few things from China/Hong Kong via online sites and everything there is priced in $US so whether the imports are Saudi Oil, or Chinese Goods, or shipments from the USA the price will go up according to the value of the $US, IMHO.

The greed comes when there is deflation.  Watch what I mean if the value of the US$ goes down.  Many shop owners will have the attitude that they do not need to lower prices even though their costs are lower.  That is when they get greedy and decide to make a little profit, IMHO.

I am not an economist, but that is the way I see it.

[LUFCinMakati]

4 hours ago, Jack Peterson said:

Just up on Screen a few moments ago   To me it is Greed, mainly I feel, to cover up things

To monitor over such as short period is unrealistic, Malaysia fir example is showing 0.2 as they removed GST (6%) at the end of June. Replaced by SST on 1.9. 

Notwithstanding this, inflation is a major issues, but measure it YOY, ADB data attached.

ADO 2018 Update - Inflation.xlsx

Edited October 9, 2018 by LUFCinMakati