BY GEROME DALIPE IV
ILOILO City – Inflation, or the increase in prices of goods and services over time, in Western Visayas continued to increase, data released yesterday by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) Region 6 showed.
A special release of the summary inflation on the consumer price index stated the region’s inflation rose to 4.1 percent in April 2024, from 3.1 percent in March 2024.
The region posted average inflation of 3.0 percent from January to April 2024 is 3.0 percent. The inflation rate in April 2023 was higher at 8.2 percent.
Western Visayas’ inflation hike rate in April 2024 was mainly due to the higher annual growth in the index of food and non-alcoholic beverages at a 7.3 percent inflation rate in April 2024 from 5.5 percent in the previous month.
Another factor for the inflation hike was the slower decline in the housing, electricity, gas, and other fuels index at -2.2 percent in April from -3.2 percent in March 2024.
The transport sector is the third factor for the inflation hike with 3.1 percent inflation in April, from 2.4 percent in March 2024.
The top three commodity groups that contributed to the region’s hike in inflation rate were food and non-alcoholic beverages with 76.1 percent share or 3.12 percentage points; restaurants and accommodation services with 8.2 percent share or 0.34 percentage point, and transport with 6.6 percent share or 0.27 percentage point.
The food inflation in April 2024 was influenced mainly by the slower decline of prices in the index of vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas, and pulses food group, which registered a -1.3 percent inflation rate in April 2024 from -10.6 percent in March 2024.
Fish and other seafood food products followed it with faster annual growth 0.4 percent inflation rate from -2.2 percent in March.
Cereals and cereal products food groups also contributed to the uptrend with a 16.0 percent inflation rate during April from 15.1 percent in March.
The inflation rate for the bottom 30 percent of income households in Western Visayas also increased to 5.2 percent in April 2024 from 3.8 percent in March 2024.
The inflation rate for the bottom 30 percent of income households was higher in April 2023, at 8.9 percent.
The main contributor to the uptrend of income households inflation was primarily brought about by the faster year-on-year increase in the index of food and non-alcoholic beverages commodity group at 8.6 percent in April 2024 from 6.4 percent in March 2024.
This was followed by housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels with a slower decline of -4.6 percent inflation rate from -6.0 percent in the previous month.
Restaurants and accommodation services with a higher inflation rate of 5.2 percent during the month from 3.9 percent in March also contributed to the inflation hike.
Except for Guimaras, five of the six provinces in Western Visayas recorded an increase in inflation rates from April 2024 to March 2024.
Guimaras posted the highest monthly inflation rate of 6.8 percent, while Capiz and Iloilo had the lowest at similar 3.9 percent inflation rates.
The two highly urbanized cities in the region recorded an uptrend in their inflation rates during the month.
Iloilo City’s monthly inflation rate is at 0.8 percent from 0.7 percent in March 2024, and Bacolod City’s monthly inflation rate is at 3.9 percent, from 3.3 percent in the previous month./PN
