President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said inflation remains one of the country’s “greatest problems” despite the Philippines making significant strides in managing the economic strain caused by global inflationary pressures.

“Despite the woes brought about by global inflation, our country has still managed to curb inflation to a reasonable, almost manageable, level. It remains unfortunately our greatest problem and this is inflation that is brought about by forces that we cannot control,” Marcos told government officials and the diplomatic corps during the vin d’honneur at Malacañang.

While the average this year is still within the government’s target range of 2 percent to 4 percent, the country’s headline inflation accelerated for a fourth consecutive month to 3.9 percent in May.

The latest data is below the 6.1 percent published in May 2023 but somewhat higher than the 3.8 percent reported in April 2024.

Marcos underscored the progress achieved over the past year, noting a marked improvement in the economic situation.

“Nonetheless, I think that we have done a good job and with this... It is a very large improvement from what we were under… the situation that we were under maybe a year ago,” Marcos said.