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THOSE of us who remember the fast rising prices of 2018, when the inflation rate hit a high of 6.8 percent in September, are now looking with some concern over the report this weekend that inflation just hit a two-year high of 4.7 percent.
The Consumer Price Index went up to 2 percent last January. That was when meat prices rose so high that the government put a price cap on pork and chicken, but supplies from the provinces quickly disappeared and without these supplies, vendors in Metro Manila simply closed their stalls. With the high farm prices in Mindanao, Visayas, Mimaropa, and Bicol, plus transport costs, the price caps ordered by the government in Metro Manila could not be met. There was also African Swine Flu which further limited the meat supply.
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