DAVAO CITY – Davao Region's year-on-year regional inflation increased to 8.9 percent last month from 8.6 percent in July, the Philippine Statistics Office in Region 11 (PSA-11) said Friday.
The PSA-11 said the increase is the highest recorded inflation since January this year.
“The average inflation for the first six months of the year stood at 6.3 percent,” it said in a statement.
The increase is primarily attributed to the higher annual increment in the index for housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels at 8.9 percent.
Education services are at 6.8 percent while furnishings, household equipment, and routine household maintenance are at 5.6 percent.
The PSA-11 said the PPP (purchasing power of the peso) measures the real value of the Philippine peso in a given period relative to its value in the base period, which declined to 0.85 centavos in August compared to the same month last year at 92 centavos.
Adding to the uptrend in the overall inflation during the period were the higher annual increments in the indices of the following commodity groups as compared with their previous month’s inflation rates - clothing and footwear (4 percent), personal care, and miscellaneous goods and services (4.9 percent), health (4.2 percent), alcoholic beverages and tobacco (10 percent), and recreation, sport and culture (4.2 percent).
On the other hand, lower annual increments were observed in the commodity groups for food and non-alcoholic beverages (9 percent) and transport (18.1 percent).
The food index decreased to 9.3 percent in August from 9.7 percent in the previous month. In August 2021, the food index was lower by 6.7 percent.
For Davao Region's provinces, the year-on-year provincial inflation of Davao Oriental significantly dropped from 8.5 percent in July to 7.7 percent in August this year.
For Davao del Sur, the inflation rate of 9.6 percent in July decreased to 8.3 percent the following month.
“Meanwhile, the province of Davao del Norte dropped its previous growth rate from 7.1 percent in July to 6.9 percent in August, and Davao de Oro, on the other hand, dropped from 12.0 percent in July to 10.2 percent in August,” PSA-13 said.
Davao Occidental’s inflation rate from 8.1 in July significantly increased to 8.7 in August, while Davao City’s 8.4 inflation rate in July increased to 9.6 in the following month. (PNA)
