President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. told a business forum Tuesday that even as the country is poised to meet its growth targets for 2022, inflation '' is running rampant and out of control.''

''We just received the poor news from the Philippine Statistics that November we hit eight percent,'' he said.

''Although our growth rate looks healthy, our foreign exchange has become ? our peso has become a little stronger relative to the other currencies, our unemployment rate is quite reasonable considering the situation. However, on the other side of that coin, there is still inflation that is running rampant and out of control,'' said Marcos.

''And we are now trying to identify the areas of the economy that are ? that are the main drivers of that inflation. The main drivers of that inflation, unfortunately, are still imported ? is still imported inflation,'' he added.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said the eight percent inflation rate is the highest since November 2008. In October, inflation was at 7.7 percent.

''The higher inflation in November was attributed largely to the increase in prices of food items amid strong typhoons over the recent months,'' said the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

''In particular, inflation for rice, fruits, sugar, and vegetables such as eggplants and red onions registered faster price increases for the month. Limited fish supply due to severe tropical storm Paeng as well as the start of the annual three-month closed fishing season also pushed fish prices upward,'' it added.

Marcos said import substitution ''is still a good idea not only for foreign exchange reserve but also that we can keep our inflation rate down.''

Marcos said the country is on track to maintain ''its strong economic performance and achieve the government’s growth target of 6.5 to 7.5 percent for 2022.''

The central bank said the eight percent inflation rate '' is in line with its assessment of above-target inflation in the near term before gradually decelerating in the succeeding months as the cost-push shocks to inflation due to weather disturbances and transport fare adjustments dissipate.'' DMS