BY GEROME DALIPE IV
ILOILO City – Mayor Jerry P. Treñas voiced his jubilation on the recent report by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) Region 6 stating the overall inflation rate of Iloilo City has slowed down to -1.1 percent in January 2024 from -0.7 percent in December 2023.
In a press conference, Treñas said the low inflation statistics are a testament to how the city government continues to find innovative solutions and embrace difficult challenges.
“Inflation would only arise if your products have low demands. Probably, our products in Iloilo City have good demand. What is important is that the production of goods must meet the demands,” Treñas said.
In her recent press conference, Nelida Amolar, PSA Regional Statistics Services 6 officer-in-charge, said Iloilo City posted the lowest monthly inflation in January 2024 among capital cities in Western Visayas.
Bacolod City in Negros Occidental posted a monthly inflation rate of 2.5 percent from 4.0 percent in the preceding month.
Likewise, the agency identified the top three commodity groups that contributed to the low inflation rate in Iloilo City’s overall inflation rate of 1.1 percent last month.
The first factor is food and nonalcoholic beverages with a 90.9 percent share or 2 percentage points.
The second is transportation, representing 8.5 percent share or -2.1 percentage point as one of the contributors.
Likewise, clothing and footwear with a .9 percent share or 028 percentage points ranked third in the commodity group as contributors to the headline inflation.
Amolar stressed that low inflation can have direct effects on individuals and the economy of a region or city. These include stable prices, purchasing power, employment, and cost of borrowing, among others.
She said a low rate of inflation means the prices and services have been decreasing. Due to stable prices brought about by low inflation, consumers can plan and budget more efficiently.
Inflation refers to the rate at which the general level of prices for goods and services is rising, leading to a decrease in purchasing power. Hence, a high inflation rate means that prices are rising rapidly.
Likewise, the overall inflation rate in Western Visayas slowed to 2 percent in January 2024. Amolar said the statistics showed the lowest inflation rate since the 1.3 percent inflation rate recorded in November 2019.
The inflation rate was recorded at 3.2 percent in December 2023, while it was 10.3 percent in January 2023.
The downtrend in the headline inflation in January 2024 was mainly due to the slower annual growth in the index of food and non-alcoholic beverages with a 4.2 percent inflation rate in January 2024 from 7.0 percent in December 2023.
On the other hand, the food inflation in Western Visayas slowed down to 4.3 percent in January 2024 from 7.3 percent in the preceding month. Food inflation in January 2022 was recorded at 11.0 percent.
The downtrend of food inflation in January 2024 was largely brought about by the slowdown of the annual growth in the index of fish and other seafood to zero percent in January 2024 from a 6.5 percent inflation rate in December 2023./PN
