BACOLOD City – The inflation rate in this city eased to 5.7 percent in August from 6.6 percent in July, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) in Negros Occidental showed.
“The decline is brought on by slight annual decreases in prices in some commodity groups,” officer-in-charge chief statistical specialist John Campomanes said in the summary inflation report and consumer price index (CPI) for all income households.
These include food and non-alcoholic beverages; alcoholic beverages and tobacco; clothing and footwear; housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels; recreation, sports, and culture; restaurants and accommodation services; and personal care and miscellaneous goods and services.
In August 2022, the inflation rate in this city was at 6.3 percent, the report also showed.
Last month, food inflation declined to 8 percent from 8.3 percent in July, while non-food inflation decreased to 4.2 percent from the previous month’s 5.4 percent.
The inflation rate in Bacolod, one of the two highly urbanized cities in Western Visayas, has steadily declined from 12.1 percent in January to 11.2 percent in February, 8.7 percent in March and April, 7.5 percent in May, and 6.7 percent in June.
Meanwhile, the inflation rate in Negros Occidental slightly increased to 7.9 percent in August from 7.6 percent in the previous month due to increased prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages and transport items.
The CPI provides a general measure of the changes in average retail prices of commodities bought by a specific group of consumers in a given area over a period.
Inflation is the annual rate of change or the year-on-year change of the CPI expressed in percent and is interpreted in terms of the declining purchasing power of money. (PNA)/PN
