Bicol inflation rate decelerates to 4.4% in July

INQUIRER FILES

LEGAZPI CITY – The Philippine Statistics Authority 5 (PSA-Bicol) reported on Thursday that the inflation rate in the region slowed down from 4.6 percent in June to 4.4 percent in July this year.

Based on the summary inflation report, PSA Regional Director Cynthia Perdiz said this brought average inflation rate from January to July 2024 to 3.7 percent.

The July 2023 inflation rate in the region reached 4.6 percent.

READ: July inflation accelerates to 4.4% – PSA

“Ang pangunahing dahilan ng mas mababang antas ng inflation ng Hulyo 2024 keysa noong Hunyo 2024 ay ang pagbaba ng presyo sa housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuel sa antas na -2.1 percent. Ito ang may 86.7 percent shares sa pagbaba ng pangkalahatang inflation sa rehiyon (The main reason for the lower level of inflation in July 2024 than in June 2024 is the decrease in the prices of housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuel at a level of -2.1 percent. It has 86.7 percent shares in the decrease of general inflation in the region),” Perdiz said in a press conference.

She said restaurants and accommodation services and clothing and footwear also contributed to the overall inflation in the region, with a 5.8 percent and 4.7 percent share of the downtrend, respectively.

“What contributed a lot to the decrease in inflation of restaurants and accommodation services was the slower increase in the price of restaurants, cafes, and the like, while in clothing and footwear was the slower increase in the price of garments, cleaning, repair, tailoring, and hiring of clothing,” Perdiz said in Filipino.

She said the top three commodity groups contributing to the July overall inflation were food and non-alcoholic beverages, transport, and restaurant and accommodation services.

PSA data showed the provincial inflation rates of the six provinces in the Bicol region, with Masbate having the highest inflation at 6 percent and Sorsogon having the lowest inflation at 1.1 percent.

Meanwhile, Albay posted an inflation rate of 4.4 percent; Camarines Sur — 4.8 percent; Catanduanes — 5.6 percent; and Camarines Norte — 4.8 percent.

Inflation is the annual rate of change or the year-on-year change of the consumer price index expressed in percentage.