THE country’s headline inflation accelerated to four percent in March 2022, from three percent in February 2022, bringing year-to-date inflation in the first quarter at 3.4 percent.March 2021 inflation was higher at 4.1 percent.The National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) said the March inflation rate is in line with the median analyst forecast of four percent and is within the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ forecast range of 3.3 to 4.1 percent.Higher inflation rates for both food and non-food commodity groups resulted in a faster inflation for March 2022.Food inflation increased to 2.8 percent, up from 1.1 percent in February. Notably, corn inflation remained high at 31.3 percent in March 2022 as global conflicts further constrained world corn supply.Increases in the inflation rates for flour and bread, meat, fish, vegetables, and sugar also contributed to the faster food inflation.Meanwhile, non-food inflation increased to five percent in March 2022 from 4.1 percent in the previous month, mostly due to elevated oil prices. Transport inflation likewise increased to 10.3 percent from 8.8 percent.March inflation in Central Visayas stood at five percent from 5.1 percent in February. Inflation in food and non-alcoholic beverages in the region slowed down to 6.3 percent from 7.9 percent but inflation in transport accelerated to 8.9 percent from 4.8 percent.Neda chief Karl Kendrick Chua, in a statement, said the government has been proactively monitoring the impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.“As early as March 7, the Economic Development Cluster (EDC) has already proposed interventions to manage the impact on the economy and the people,” he said.The EDC’s policy interventions to manage supply and prices of key commodities include the following:1. Expanding supply and reducing prices of pork by extending the lower tariff of 15 percent in quota and 25 percent out quota with minimum access volume of 200,000 metric tons until December 2022;2. Accelerating the release of imported pork from cold storages;3. Passing the proposed Livestock Development and Competitiveness Law and pursuing the livestock value chain reform to address rising corn and feeds prices;4. Accelerating the release of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Import Clearance from the National Meat Inspection Service’s cold storage warehouses to push up chicken inventory; and5. Removing all non-tariff barriers.Inflation in the National Capital Region rose to 3.4 percent in March 2022, from 1.9 percent in the previous month while inflation in areas outside the NCR (AONCR) rose to 4.1 percent in March 2022, from 3.4 percent in February 2022.Twelve regions in AONCR had higher inflation in March 2022 relative to their annual growth rates in the previous month.The highest inflation was noted in Region 8 (Eastern Visayas) at 5.3 percent, while the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao remained the region with the lowest inflation rate at 1.5 percent.