Central Visayas Inflation Rises to 4.8% in June

Uptrend in the prices of crops, vegetables and electricity drove Central Visayas’s inflation rate to 4.8 percent in June 2024, a 0.8 percentage rate increase from the previous month, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) in Central Visayas on Friday, July 12, 2024.

In a press conference, PSA 7 Director Ariel Florendo said that the June 2024 inflation rate was higher than four percent in May and 3.2 percent in April and March.

Florendo explained that an increase or decrease in inflation indicates how fast the rise or fall in the average price level of goods and services in the region over a certain period.

He added it also serves as the basis for the government and private sector to create policies to combat the faster price surges of goods and services.

Inflation is the gradual rise in prices of goods and services, which reduces the purchasing power of a currency.

It also reflects the percentage change in the average price level of goods and services over the base year in 2018, making money worth less as each unit buys fewer goods and services.

Drivers and contributors

The main drivers of the June 2024 inflation rate increase, are still the food and non-alcoholic beverages with a 7.6 percent increase in comparison to 6.4 percent logged in May 2024 and five percent in April 2024.

It was influenced by the faster increase in the prices of cereals and cereal products (particularly in corn) and vegetables, tubers and etc. (particularly in pumpkins, squash and gourds).

Elvin Milleza, chief of the Planning and Monitoring Evaluation Division (PMED) of the Department of Agriculture, said that among the factors of the faster increase was the reported damages to crop production due to the El Niño phenomenon, especially in Cebu province.

“Based on our data recorded, we have an estimated affected area of about 4,600 hectares. The amount of the damage for high-value crops is estimated to be about P717 million,” Milleza said.

“It could be the decline in the production of these vegetables, particularly upland vegetables that resulted in the increase in the prices of these commodities,” he added.

Milleza said that recovery in the production of vegetables would not take as long as three months, however for rice and corn it will take at least four months for production to increase.

Another driver was the 2.7 uptick in housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (particularly in electricity) from the previous month of 1.6 percent and from 1.1 percent in April 2024.

In a year-on-year comparison, Central Visayas’s June 2024 inflation rate is slightly lower than the five percent recorded in June 2023.

At the national level, the country’s inflation rate slowed down to 3.7 percent in June versus the previous month’s of 3.9 percent.

From January to June, Central Visayas’ average inflation stood at 3.4 percent.

Aside from the main drivers, the major contributors to the regional inflation in June 2024 were food and non-alcoholic beverages (62.2 percent), housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (13.7 percent), and restaurants and accommodation services at 7.8 percent.

Moreover, faster increases in inflation rate were also recorded in Bohol (5.2 percent); Cebu (3.5 percent); Cebu City (5.9 percent); and Lapu-Lapu City (6.5 percent) in June this year.

There was also an increase in inflationary pressure for Mandaue City (7.4 percent); Negros Oriental (4.2 percent); and Siquijor (4.1 percent). / EHP