Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno (PNA photo by Avito C. Dalan)
MANILA – Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno said the proposed PHP150 minimum wage hike will increase inflation by about 1.4 percentage points this year.
"The implication of the PHP150 increase...it will increase inflation by 1.4 percent," Diokno told reporters in a briefing late Friday.
"So who will benefit from that? Who will suffer? Inflation this year is estimated at 5.5 percent, plus 1.4 percentage points so that's 6.9 percent," he added.
The Development Budget Coordination Committee earlier raised the inflation projection this year to 5 to 7 percent due to the high prices of food.
Headline inflation already slowed to 6.6 percent in April from 7.6 percent in March.
The latest figure however is still way beyond the 2 to 4 percent target range of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.
Senator Ramon Revilla Jr. earlier filed Senate Bill 2002 or the Across-the-Board Wage Increase Act of 2023 which seeks to increase the minimum wage by PHP150.
"We have to explain to the policymakers what are the implications of having higher than expected wage increase," Diokno said.
Diokno noted that it would be better "to just continue the current system, which actually works." (PNA)
