MANDAUE City recorded the highest year-on-year inflation rate increase, now at 7.6 percent for April 2024, among highly urbanized cities and provinces in Central Visayas, an official from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) Cebu said on Thursday, May 16, 2024.
Mandaue City’s inflation rate in April 2023 was only 2.4 percent.
In a press conference on Thursday, Melchor Bautista, PSA Cebu’s chief statistical specialist, also said that among the local government units in Cebu, only Mandaue City recorded an increase in its inflation rate in April relative to March this year.
Mandaue City’s inflation rate in March 2024 was 7.5 percent.
The cities of Cebu and Lapu-Lapu, along with the Province of Cebu (excluding highly urbanized cities) have experienced a slight decrease in their inflation rates.
Cebu City’s April 2024 inflation rate was 4.6 percent, down from 4.7 percent in March; Lapu-Lapu City’s rate was 5.5 percent, down from 5.6 percent; and Cebu Province’s rate was 0.2 percent, down from 0.3 percent.
Inflation refers to the general increase in prices of goods and services over a period of time. Bautista said the inflation rate is also equivalent to a decline in the purchasing power of the peso, which affects the real value of the peso in a given period.
Factors
Bautista said Mandaue City’s high inflation rate for April 2024 was driven mainly by an increase in the prices in housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels. The increase was 17.2 percent, up from 16.6 percent in March.
The increase was particularly due to the price movement in the housing and rent sub-commodity, which significantly affected Mandaue’s inflation rate for April 2024.
“Ang Mandaue man gud gamay ra og area but densely populated siya. So, meaning to say, ang demand sa housing ug rent kay mao gyud ang usa sa factors,” Bautista said.
(Mandaue may have a small area, but it is densely populated. So, meaning to say, the demand for housing and rent is indeed one of the factors.)
“Bisag asa ka mosulod sa Mandaue, ang demand g’yud sa pag-rent kay taas (Wherever you go in Mandaue, the demand for rent is high).” he added.
The city also saw an inflation increase for transportation, clothing, and footwear. However, its food inflation decelerated to 6.6 percent in April 2024 from 6.8 percent in March 2024.
Other provinces
PSA Central Visayas Director Ariel Florendo, on Wednesday, May 15, said the Province of Bohol logged an uptick in its inflation rate from only 3.3 percent in March 2024 to 4.3 percent in April 2024.
Only the province of Siquijor retained its inflation rate at 3.8 percent for April and March 2024.
Central Visayas maintained its headline inflation rate at 3.2 percent in April 2024, the same as the previous month. / EHP