MANILA — The Marcos administration managed to keep inflation at bay in 2025, according to Executive Secretary Ralph Recto, who reported that the rate fell to 1.6 percent from January to November, more than half of the 3.4 percent recorded in 2024.

Recto, a former finance chief, noted that the decline continues a downward trend since President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. assumed office. Inflation was at 5.8 percent in 2022 and 6.0 percent in 2023, before easing significantly this year.

“To put this in perspective, a 6% inflation rate means your ₱100 can buy only about ₱94 worth of goods and services. But with inflation down to just 1.6% in 2025, that same ₱100 can now buy about ₱98.4 worth of goods and services,” Recto explained.

He highlighted that the administration’s efforts to stabilize prices have protected the purchasing power of Filipino households, especially the poor. Recto also pointed to the sale of rice at ₱20 per kilo, which he said was about half the average price in 2022, as a concrete example of government intervention benefiting consumers.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) was also credited with gaining greater policy space to recalibrate interest rates due to the lower inflation environment. Recto emphasized that taming inflation has particularly benefited the bottom 30 percent of income households, with inflation for this group even contracting to -0.2 percent in November 2025, marking six straight months of price declines.

Malacañang said the administration remains optimistic about the country’s economic prospects, stressing that the slowdown in inflation reflects efforts to stabilize food supplies, secure household purchasing power, and sustain growth.

When Numbers Look Good but Life Still Feels Hard

A 1.6 percent inflation rate sounds impressive. On paper, it suggests relief. Stability. Progress. But for many Filipinos, this claim feels disconnected from daily life.

Statistics can show trends, but they do not pay for groceries, rent, transport, or electricity. Ask families in public markets, jeepney drivers, or minimum-wage earners if prices feel lighter today, and the answer is often no. Rice may be cheaper in some areas, but access is uneven. Meat, vegetables, fuel, and utilities remain expensive. Wages have not caught up.

Inflation slowing does not mean prices went back down. It only means they are rising more slowly. For households already stretched thin by years of high prices, “slower increases” still feel like loss. The ₱100 example sounds neat, but it ignores accumulated damage from past inflation that never reversed.

There is also a gap between national averages and lived reality. What contracts on spreadsheets may still expand at the sari-sari store.

Economic success should not require explanation to be felt. If numbers are truly working for people, relief becomes visible, not theoretical. Until daily survival eases, skepticism is not pessimism. It is lived experience speaking louder than percentages.