The country’s inflation rate has become the highest among ASEAN nations, so it’s no surprise that it has become the most important issue for Filipinos.
In a survey released today by Pulse Asia Research, 63 percent of the respondents said that controlling the country’s runaway inflation growth should be the government’s top priority.
Changing the constitution, one of President Rodrigo Duterte’s campaign promises, was considered the least important with only 3 percent of the respondents calling it urgent.
The results of the survey were based on face-to-face interviews with 1,800 registered voters aged 18 years old and above conducted from Sept. 1 – 7.
Among those surveyed, 66 percent of Luzon-based respondents believed that managing the inflation rate was of utmost importance. Of all respondents, those belonging to class D think it was the top national issue.
Too bad for this government but the same survey also shows that only 27 percent of respondents approve their performance in managing the country’s inflation.
Compared to a similar survey which Pulse Asia conducted in June this year, there was a 12 percent increase of respondents who said that inflation was the most pressing national problem.
The second most important issue for the respondents was “improving/increasing the pay of workers,” which was chosen by 50 percent of those interviewed. Meanwhile, 53 percent of the respondents also said that they approve how the government is addressing this concern.
Respondents also identified issues which they said was urgent: reducing poverty (32 percent); creating more jobs (30 percent); and fighting graft and corruption (26 percent).
Fighting criminality, one of the government’s priorities, landed at sixth place, with 23 percent of the respondents identifying it as an urgent national concern. The government’s performance rating was highest in this regard: a whopping 83 percent said they approve of how the Duterte administration is curbing criminality.
In August this year, the country registered a 6.4 percent inflation rate, the highest ever recorded in nine years. The rate was far higher than the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP/central bank of the Philippines) projected inflation rate of 5.9. The BSP said the prices of rice, vegetables, meat, gas, and other products drove the inflation rate upward.
