Region 8 inflation rate slows down in August after 5 months

TACLOBAN CITY – Inflation rate in Eastern Visayas slowed in August after five months of acceleration, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Monday.

The slowdown in the regional inflation rate (IR) in August 2022 was primarily due to the lower annual increase recorded in the index for food and non-alcoholic beverages at 7.5 percent, from 8.0 percent in the previous month, said PSA Eastern Visayas Regional Director Wilma Pirante.

Contributing largely to the IR slow down are fish and other seafood, vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas, pulses, and rice.

Of the six provinces, only the provinces of Biliran, Eastern Samar, and Samar recorded an increase in inflation rates in August 2022 at 7.9, 7.2, and 6.8, respectively.

Provinces with decreased IRs are Leyte (6.7), Northern Samar (9.3), and Southern Leyte (9.6).

Tacloban, the lone highly urbanized city in the region, recorded an inflation of 4.2 percent in August 2022, lower than its 5.2 percent last July.

Inflation rate is the annual rate of change or the year-on-year changes in consumer price index. It indicates how fast or how slow price changes over two time periods (year-on-year).

Contrary to common knowledge, Perante said low inflation does not necessarily mean that prices of commodities are decreasing. It means that prices continue to increase but at a slower rate.

The PSA came up with the data by establishing baseline information for the prices of the items in the base year (2018) and monitoring the prices of the items on a regular basis.

Data collection for the consumer price index is done by the PSA provincial twice monthly, except for petroleum products which are monitored every Friday. First collection phase is done during the first five days of the month while the second phase is on the 15th to 17th day of the month. (PNA)