The Philippine Statistics Authority reported that the current inflation rate of Western Visayas slowed down to 4.8 percent, but is still 0.4 percent higher than the national average of 4.4 percent.
The PSA reported on Tuesday, August 6, that the national inflation rate in July was at 4.4 percent, which accelerated by 0.7 percent compared to June’s record at 3.7 percent.
With the current national average, Western Visayas recorded a 4.8 inflation rate, which is 0.1 percent lower compared to June’s 4.9 percent.
This makes Western Visayas have the highest inflation rate among the Visayas regions, with Central Visayas having 4.5 percent, and Eastern Visayas with 4.4 percent.
PSA stated that the 4.4 inflation rate for July was attributed to the higher year-on-year increase in the index of housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels at 2.3 percent during the month from 0.1 percent in June 2024.
The faster annual growth rate of the heavily weighted food and non-alcoholic beverages index at 6.4 percent in July 2024 from 6.1 percent in June 2024 also contributed to the uptrend of the overall inflation.
The higher inflation rates during the month were also noted in the indices of transport at 3.6 percent and education services at 5.8 percent from their respective inflation rates of 3.1 percent and 3.8 percent in the previous month.
Region 10- Northern Mindanao has the highest inflation rate among other regions with 5.7 percent while Region 1- Ilocos Region has the lowest with 3.3 percent, the PSA added.*