‘Phl middle class carrying burden of squeeze economy’

The country’s middle class is bearing the brunt of rising costs and higher interest rates without assistance from the government, according to state think tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS).

- By LOUELLA DESIDERIO

“The middle class is often, shall we call it in the literature, the quiet absorber of economic shocks,” PIDS senior research fellow John Paolo Rivera said in an interview with ANC, when asked which group absorbs the most economic pain at present.

“They are the one absorbing rising costs without necessarily qualifying for government assistance,” he said.

He said minimum wage earners are the ones immediately hit by economic shocks because the bulk of their budget goes to necessities.

“Most of their income goes into consumption. So any sharp increases in the cost of living would actually affect significantly the amount of money, their purchasing power,” he said.