THE Philippines, along with the rest of the world, has experienced nearly a year of elevated energy costs due to the protracted war caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Electricity costs have steadily increased over the past few months, and there have been recent increases in the prices of vehicles and cooking fuel.
EIU's forecasts for so-called soft commodities such as grains, food oils and beverages, as well as hard commodities such as rubber, metals and fibers also follow a somewhat similar trajectory, but are less optimistic than the energy outlook.Turning back to the big three energy commodities, what is happening? All three analyses identify some common factors in the overall decline in demand. The most significant drop is in gas demand.