Cebu sees Inflation surge in December 2024

CEBU, Philippines — Cebu Province experienced a rise in its inflation rate in December 2024, reaching 3.5 percent, up from 2.8 percent in November, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

The PSA reported that the surge was primarily driven by a sharp increase in transport costs, which jumped to 13.3 percent in December, a significant rise from 1.7 percent in the previous month.

For comparison, the inflation rate in December 2023 stood at 2.1 percent, indicating a year-on-year increase.

Despite the December surge, the province’s average inflation rate for the entire year of 2024 showed a downward trend, settling at 1.9 percent.

Other factors contributing to the inflation increase included the housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels sector, which saw a rise of 2.1 percent, up from 0.7 percent in November.

However, several commodity groups recorded slower price increases. Food and non-alcoholic beverages inflation dropped to 3.5 percent, down from 5.2 percent, while alcoholic beverages and tobacco declined to 2.5 percent, from 5.0 percent.

Furnishings, household equipment, and routine household maintenance slightly decreased to 4.2 percent, down from 4.4 percent, while the health sector inflation rate fell to 2.7 percent, compared to 3.5 percent in November.

The inflation rate for personal care, miscellaneous goods, and services also eased to 2.3 percent, from 2.6 percent.

Meanwhile, inflation rates for some sectors remained unchanged from November, including clothing and footwear at 0.2 percent, recreation, sport, and culture at 1.3 percent, and education services at 7.2 percent.

Food and non-alcoholic beverages remained the largest contributor to the December 2024 inflation, accounting for 39.8 percent of the total, followed by the transport sector, which contributed 34.5 percent.

In terms of food inflation, the province recorded a slower increase of 3.5 percent, down from 5.5 percent in November. However, the December 2024 figure was still higher than the 3.1 percent recorded in December 2023.

The slowdown in food inflation was attributed to slower price increases in key food groups such as corn, which declined to 17.3 percent in December, down from 23.5 percent in November.

Additionally, vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas, and pulses experienced a significant slowdown in price growth, posting a 0.6 percent increase, compared to 10.6 percent in the previous month.

On the other hand, rice prices saw a faster rate of decline, with inflation dropping to 0.1 percent, down from 2.3 percent in November. — (FREEMAN)