Central Visayas inflation rate increased in February 2024
Engineer Leopoldo Alfanta, Jr., (center table) chief statistical specialist of PSA-7, presented the inflation rate for February 2024 on March 12 in Cebu City. CDN Digital photo/Niña Mae Oliverio
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The inflation rate in Central Visayas has increased by 0.2 percent in February 2024 compared to January.
This was presented by Engineer Leopoldo Alfanta, Jr., chief statistical specialist of the Philippine Statistics Authority in Central Visayas (PSA-7) on Tuesday, March 12, at the PSA-7 office in Cebu City.
The month of February has recorded 2.7 percent inflation rate this year while January logged 2.5 percent. While the average inflation rate in the region from January to February 2024 was 2.6 percent.
READ: Labor leader to gov’t: Hike daily wage to curb inflation
Main drivers, contributors
PSA-7 reported that the “main sources of acceleration” to the upward trend of the inflation in the region were the “faster increase” in the prices in food and non-alcoholic beverages with 2.9 percent (from 2.2 percent in January), transport with 1.8 percent (from 0.5 percent in January), and personal care, miscellaneous goods, and services with 4.7 percent (from 4.4 percent in January).
Moreover, the top three commodity groups that contributed to the inflation were the food and non-alcoholic beverages with 39.9 percent share, followed by restaurants and accommodation services with 14.1 share, and lastly the housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels with 13.6 percent share of the inflation rate.
The food and non-alcoholic beverages were considered as the top contributors to the inflation rate, and the food groups that contributed to it were the cereals and cereal products which includes rice, corn, flour, and bread with 9.2 percent (from 8.5 percent in January), meat and other parts of slaughtered land animals with 7.6 percent (from 5.5 percent in January), and milk and other dairy products and eggs with 9.0 percent inflation rate (which is lower from 10.6 percent in January).
Meanwhile, the contributors to the inflation rate of restaurants and accommodation services were restaurants, cafes, and the like with 4.4 percent (from 4.3 percent in January).
As for the housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, the major contributors were the rentals with 9.2 percent (from 9.3 percent in January), wood fuel with 4.1 percent (from 4.3 percent in January), and the materials for maintenance and others with 3.0 percent (from 3.1 percent in January).
READ: Inflation softened in Jan to over three-year low of 2.8%
Lower inflation rates
Meanwhile, there were also other commodity groups that registered lower inflation rates during February such as the alcoholic beverages and tobacco with 10 percent inflation (from 10.2 percent), clothing and footwear with 2.3 percent (from 2.4 percent), housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels with 1.6 percent (from 2.0 percent), and the furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance with 2.9 percent (from 3.2 percent).
On the other hand, the commodity group that retained its previous month’s annual rate were health with 4.5 percent, information and communication with 0.3 percent, education services with 1.4 percent, and financial services with -0.2 percent.
According to the PSA in its website, the inflation rate refers to the annual rate of change or the year-on-year change of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) expressed in percentage, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) describes it as the ‘overall increase in prices or the increase in the cost of living in a country.’
For the month of February, the PSA-7 reported that among the regions in the country, Region 1 (Ilocos Region) recorded the lowest inflation rate at 2.0 percent while the BARMM (Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao) recorded the highest inflation rate at 5.3 percent.
ALSO READ: Central Visayas farm output drops P4.7 billion in 2022
Sources:
Consumer Price Index and Inflation Rate
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