Highest in CV since January 2019: 6.9% inflation rate

CEBU, Philippines — Inflation rate in Central Visayas for July 2022 has further accelerated to 6.9 percent, the highest since January 2019.

Inflation is a decrease in the purchasing power of money due to the increase in the prices of goods and services.

Reports from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) -7 showed that inflation in the region was only at 1.5 percent in the same month last year.

The uptrend in the inflation in Central Visayas was primarily attributed to the higher annual growths in the food and non-alcoholic beverages index (8.5 percent) and transport index (23.6 percent).

Moreover, inflation for food in the region also escalated further from 7.6 percent in June to 8.8 percent in July 2022, influenced by the double-digit annual growths in the corn index at 77.8 percent; oil and fats index at 18.5 percent; and sugar, confectionery and desserts index at 16.9 percent.

On the other hand, rice index showed lower annual increase of 0.4 percent while vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas and pulses index decreased during the month at an annual rate of -4.6 percent.

The average inflation in the region from January to July 2022 now stands at 5.5 percent. Inflation rates in all the provinces and Highly Urbanized Cities (HUCs) in Central Visayas mirrored the same escalating trend.

Among the provinces, Cebu crawled up to the top during the month at 10.2 percent, followed by Siquijor at 9.3 percent, Bohol at 7.6 percent, and Negros Oriental at 6.2 percent.

Mandaue City, among the HUCs, attained the highest inflation rate in July at 3.7 percent, higher than the previous month which is 3.6 percent. The roster is followed by Lapu-Lapu City at 2.5 percent while Cebu City obtained the lowest inflation rate at 2.4 percent.

It was noted that annual mark-ups in the region were higher in the indices of common commodities such as alcoholic beverages and tobacco (6.1 percent); Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas, and Other Fuels (3.9 percent); Restaurants and Accommodation Services (3.1 percent); Personal Care, and Miscellaneous Goods and Services (1.2 percent; Health, (1.1 percent); Clothing and Footwear, (0.8 percent); Recreation, Sport and Culture (0.8 percent); and Information and Communication (0.4 percent.)

The rest of the commodity groups such as education services and financial services retained their previous month’s inflation rates in 0.0 percent.

Meanwhile, the Philippine’s annual inflation escalated further to 6.4 percent in July 2022, also the highest recorded inflation since October 2018. Overall, the country's average inflation from January to July 2022 stood at 4.7 percent.

Earlier, the government said they were expecting the increase in inflation rate in the country in July 2022.

In a media briefing, Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles said that she understood that the pace was already projected, citing how its due to the international events that have led to the increase in the prices of petroleum.--/FPL (FREEMAN)