NORTHERN Mindanao's inflation rate further eased to 6.4 percent in April 2023 from the 7.4 percent recorded in March.

According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA)-Northern Mindanao, the deceleration of food and non-alcoholic beverages from 10.9 percent in March to 9.6 percent in April contributed to the drop of the region's inflation, sharing 54 percent of the downtrend.

Another factor that contributes to the drop of inflation was the transport, which slowed from 3.5 percent to 0.6 percent, PSA-Northern Mindanao Chief Statistical Specialist Sarah Balagbis said.

It shared 24.2 percent of the deceleration.

Other factors include housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels, slowing down to four percent from five percent. It shared 19.4 percent of the drop in the overall inflation.

According to Balagbis, the top contributors to the decreasing inflation in food and non-alcoholic beverages were fish and other seafood, which dropped to 10.2 percent from 14.2 percent in March; vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas, and pulses (from 22.6 percent to 17.5 percent); and meat and other parts of slaughtered land animals (from 13.3 percent to 11.3 percent).

Rice inflation has also decreased from 3.7 percent to 3.6 percent. Likewise, corn inflation slowed down to 9.3 percent.