Cebu Province inflation rate up in July

CEBU CITY, Philippines – Inflation rate in Cebu Province soared up to 4.0 percent in July  from 3.5 percent in June 2024, according to the latest report by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) Cebu.

On Thursday, August 15, PSA Cebu Chief Statistical Specialist Melchor Bautista said the main drivers of acceleration were food and non-alcoholic beverages, which reached 9.6 percent in July from 7.8 percent in June.

Another contributing driver to the faster annual growth rate was health which was at 5.3 percent in July. 

Additionally, education services also noted an increase by 2.5 percent in July from 0.5 percent in June.

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Meanwhile, the top three commodity groups that contributed to the July 2024 headline inflation were food and non-alcoholic beverages with 107.0 percent share or 4.3 percentage points; restaurants and accommodation services with 7.4 percent share or 0.3 percentage points; and health with 4.1 percent share or 0.2 percentage points.

Bautista also mentioned that clothing and footwear recorded one of the fastest annual increments with 0.9 percent in July from 0.7 percent in June due to its demand in supply.

“Ang impact ani sa mga consumers labi na sa clothing kay grabe ang promotional sa pagbaligya sa mga products sa bukid,” Bautista said.

HUCs

Based on the data of PSA Cebu, the inflation rate in three highly urbanized cities (HUC) decreased for July 2024.

In Cebu City, the inflation for July decreased to 5.3 percent from 5.9 percent in June. 

The main drivers are the decrease of prices for housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels at 2.5 percent in July from 5.8 percent in June; alcoholic beverages and tobacco at 3.7 percent in July from 4.4 percent in June; and clothing and footwear at 2.1 percent in July from 2.3 percent in June.

Meanwhile, in Mandaue City,inflation dropped to 6.2 percent in July from 7.4 percent in June. 

The primary sources of downward inflation of Mandaue are housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels with 13.3 percent in July from 17.4 percent in June; alcoholic beverages and tobacco with 0.9 percent in July from 8.0 percent in June; and personal care and miscellaneous goods and services with 3.4 percent in July from 4.0 percent in June.

Inflation in Lapu-Lapu also dropped to 6.1 percent in July from 6.5 percent in June. 

Furthermore, housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels recorded the highest contributor to the decrease in inflation with 4.6 percent in July from 5.5 percent in June, followed by food and non-alcoholic beverages with 5.9 percent in July from 6.0 percent in June.