INFLATION. The headline inflation in Central Luzon rises to 4.6 percent in March 2022, the fourth-highest annual rate recorded for the region since the same period last year, the Philippine Statistics Authority-Regional Statistical Services Office (PSA-RSSO) reported on Wednesday (May 4, 2022). Central Luzon, along with Ilocos Region and Western Visayas, ranked fifth among the regions with the highest inflation in the country at 4.6 percent. (Infographic by PSA RSSO III)
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga — The headline inflation in Central Luzon went up to 4.6 percent in March 2022, the fourth-highest annual rate recorded in the region since March last year, the Philippine Statistics Authority-Regional Statistical Services Office (PSA-RSSO) reported on Wednesday.
The latest figure was 1.6 percentage points higher than in February 2022.
The rate is higher by 0.3 percentage points from the recorded 4.3 percent in March 2021.
Central Luzon, along with Ilocos Region and Western Visayas, ranked fifth among the regions with the highest inflation in the country at 4.6 percent.
Eastern Visayas recorded the highest inflation at 5.3 percent, followed by the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) and Central Visayas with 5.1 percent and 5.0 percent, respectively.
Meanwhile, the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) had the lowest inflation at 1.5 percent.
The annual inflation rate in the country inched up to 4.0 percent in March 2022 which is a percentage point higher than the recorded 3.0 percent in February 2022.
In her report, PSA-RSSO III officer-in-charge Arlene Divino said the index of food and non-alcoholic beverages demonstrated a faster annual increase to 2.1 percent from -0.8 percent in February 2022.
Faster annual increments in the inflation were registered in the indices of alcoholic beverages and tobacco at 5.9 percent; clothing and footwear, 2.2 percent; housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels, 0.5 percent; furnishings, household equipment, and routine household maintenance, 2.0 percent; transport, 10.4 percent; and restaurants and accommodation services, 1.9 percent.
The annual growth rate in the regional food index recorded a faster increase at 2.1 percent in March 2022 from -1.0 percent in February 2022.
An increase can be attributed to the following food indices: rice, 2.9 percent; flour, bread, and other bakery products, pasta products, and other cereals, 3.7 percent; fish and other seafood, 4.4 percent; and oil and fats, 12.6 percent.
The increase was also noted in vegetables, tubers, cooking bananas, and pulses, 3.5 percent; sugar, confectionery, and desserts, 7.1 percent; and ready-made food and other food products, 2.9 percent. (PNA)
