CEBU, Philippines — As Central Visayas’ inflation rate decelerated to 2.1 percent in September this year, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA)-7 said it's a “good indicator” as holiday season approaches.
This September inflation rate marked the lowest inflation rate recorded for this year and also the third consecutive month to maintain the downtrend.
The data further showed that the September inflation rate is much lower than the 3.4 percent recorded in August and the 3.8 percent observed last September 2023.
In the press conference yesterday, PSA-7 Chief Statistical Specialist, Engr. Leopoldo Alfanta Jr., said that this is due to the slowdown in the increase of food and non-alcoholic beverages.
“Meaning to say mas makapalit og daghan on the average ang usa ka household,” said Alfanta, granting that the coming months will see normal delivery of goods and services provided that no major calamities and phenomenon arises.
Meanwhile, the average year-to-date inflation rate from January to September is at 3.4 percent.
September inflation falls within the forecasted range of 2 to 4 percent by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.
Alfanta said that the trend shows a good indicator of price stability heading into the last quarter of the year.
“When you say price stability, lower inflation meaning dili kaayo mosaka so makaingon jud ko that it’s a good and better indicator no na papasok ta sa holiday season. The buying capacity of the people mas dako siya kay dili man ingon ang pagdako o pagsaka sa presyo,” said Alfanta.
The main driver to the downtrend in the regional inflation this September compared to August was the slower increase in the prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages which recorded a 2 percent from 5.8 percent last month.
Under the food and non-alcoholic beverages that contributed to the downtrend with slower annual increase are rice and Cereal products; vegetables, tubers; meat and other slaughtered land animals
In the basis of the commodity groups, the data also revealed that housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels observed to have the largest contribution in the overall inflation, with a significant 4.6 percent inflation rate, accounting for a 52.6 percent share of the downward trend.
“The main contributors to the inflation of housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels are actual rentals paid by tenants from main residents and liquefied hydrocarbons particularly butane,” said Alfanta.
In second is the Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages with a 37 percent share to the regional inflation rate. Key drivers of this increase were the cereals and cereal products, meats and other slaughtered land animals, as well as fruits and nuts.
Further, restaurants and accommodation services ranked third, registering 2.1 percent inflation, accounting to 9.1 percent of the overall inflation rate.
On the other hand, National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) - 7 representative Raddy Dave Boyles highlighted that the region’s inflation peaked around June this year but has since started to decrease.
He noted that world rice tariffs have decreased by about P3 which benefits the country given that the Philippines is the world’s top rice importer.
In fact, the January to September inflation figures for rice alone show fluctuations, but a steady decline was seen this month in September, with inflation reaching 5.4 percent, compared to previous double-digit rates.
This was backed by Department of Agriculture (DA)-7 Elvin Milleza, who disclosed that they are expecting the continuous decline.
Further, apart from Cebu with the lowest inflation rate of 0.7 percent; other provinces in the region reported the following inflation: Negros Oriental with 1.5 percent; Bohol with 1.6 percent, and Siquijor with 2.6 percent. —/ATO (FREEMAN)