The June inflation rate of Western Visayas was 4.9 percent, 0.6 percent higher than May’s 4.3 percent, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Friday, July 5.
The region’s 4.9 percent inflation rate is about 1.2 percent higher than the country’s 3.7 percent rate, the PSA said.
Among the commodity groups, education services had the highest inflation in the region at 7.8 percent, followed by food and non-alcoholic beverages at 7 percent, which both remained unchanged since May.
Alcoholic drinks and tobacco recorded an inflation rate of 3.3 percent, clothing and footwear – 3.3 percent, housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels – 2.7 percent, and furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance – 2.3 percent;
Health – 2.7 percent, transport – 3.2 percent, information and communication – 0.9 percent, recreation, sports and culture – 3.8 percent, restaurants and accommodation services – 5.5 percent, financial services -1 percent, and personal care, and miscellaneous goods and services – 2.9 percent.
Meanwhile, PSA said that the country’s overall inflation eased to 3.7 percent in June from 3.9 percent in May primarily influenced by the slower annual increment of housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels at 0.1 percent in June from 0.9 percent in May.
Also contributing to the downtrend were the slower annual increases in the indices of transport at 3.1 percent in June from 3.5 percent in May, and restaurants and accommodation services at 5.1 percent inflation in June from 5.3 percent inflation in the previous month, PSA added.*