TACLOBAN - Eastern Visayas recorded a 3.4 percent inflation rate in March, marking the region's lowest inflation rate in the past six months, according to a report released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Friday. This rate positions the region sixth among all regions in terms of inflation rates.
According to Philippines News Agency, during a press briefing, the decline in inflation was primarily attributed to a significant annual decrease in the housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels index, which fell to 3.2 percent in March from 1.6 percent in February. Perante also noted contributions to the downtrend from the food and non-alcoholic beverages index, which slowed to 6.5 percent this month from 6.7 percent in February, and the alcoholic beverages and tobacco index, which decreased to 6.7 percent from 8 percent last month.
The report detailed inflation rates across the region's six provinces, with Samar experiencing the highest at 4.3 percent. It was followed by Leyte at 3.7 percent, Biliran and Southern Leyte both at 3.5 percent, Northern Samar at 2.5 percent, and Eastern Samar at 2.2 percent. Perante clarified that low inflation does not necessarily indicate a drop in commodity prices but rather a slower rate of increase.
The PSA conducts bi-monthly data collection for the consumer price index across the provinces, with additional monitoring of petroleum products every Friday.