HIGHER PRICES. Vegetable products at Sagkahan market, in Tacloban City on Friday (May 10, 2024). Eastern Visayas recorded a 3.6 percent inflation rate in April 2024, higher than the figure logged in March, the Philippine Statistics Authority reported. (PNA photo by Niña Rose A. Magpili, OJT)
TACLOBAN CITY – Eastern Visayas recorded a 3.6 percent inflation rate (IR) in April 2024, higher than the figure logged in March, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Friday.
Last month’s rate was higher than the 3.4 percent recorded in March.
The uptrend in the regional rate in April 2024 was primarily due to the higher prices for food and non-alcoholic beverages, which were up 6.6 percent from 6.5 percent a month ago.
The inflation rate for the food index increased to 6.8 percent in April 2024, up from 6.7 percent the previous month.
“The increase in the IR for food was primarily influenced by the slower annual price decrease for vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas, and pulses at 5.4 percent during the month,” Perante told reporters.
Also contributing to the uptrend was the higher adjustment of prices in clothing and footwear, recreation, and sports.
Four of the region’s six provinces recorded higher inflation rates in the fourth month of 2024.
Among the provinces, Southern Leyte posted the highest rate at 4.9 percent, up from 3.5 percent in the previous month.
Biliran’s IR is higher at 4.4 percent in April from 3.5 percent month-on-month. Eastern Samar’s rate shot up to 3.6 percent during the same period from 2.2 percent month-on-month.
Tacloban, the lone highly urbanized city in the region, recorded an inflation rate of 3.2 percent in April, higher than its 2.8 percent IR a month earlier.
Meanwhile, Northern Samar logged the highest decrease in IR, from 2.5 percent last March to only two percent in April.
Leyte’s IR dropped to 3.4 percent from 3.7 percent, while Samar’s rate decelerated to 4.1 percent from 4.3 percent between March and April.
The inflation rate is the annual rate of change or the year-on-year changes in the consumer price index.
It indicates how fast or slow the 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; instead, it means that prices continue to increase, but at a slower rate. (With reports from Jake C. Paguipo and Niña Rose A. Magpili, OJTs/PNA)
