The Cebu Provincial Statistical Office bared yesterday that Cebu Province’s inflation rate continue to rise but that of the highly urbanized cities of Cebu, Lapu-Lapu declined.
Cebu Provincial Statistical Office chief statistical specialist Melchor Bautista in a press briefing said Cebu Province’s inflation accelerated to four percent in July 2024 from 3.5 percent in June 2024.
The primary influence in the faster increase were food and non-alcoholic beverages at 9.6 percent compared to 7.8 percent in June 2024.
“For the Province of Cebu, its main source of acceleration is food, particularly corn, meat products, fish and seafood,” Bautista said.
As he cited the faster annual increases of corn at 31.8 percent, meat and other parts of slaughtered land animals at 9.3 percent, and fruits and nuts at 4.9 percent.
Inflation rate refers to a decline in the purchasing power of the peso. It is the change in the Consumer Price Index over a specific period of time as defined by the Philippine Statistics Authority.
Mandaue City’s inflation rate dropped to 6.2 percent in July 2024, from 7.4 percent in June. This remains high as in July 2023, it was higher than 2.5 percent.
The main contributors to the downward trend were housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, which decreased to 13.3 percent, along with alcoholic beverages and tobacco at 0.9 percent, and personal care and miscellaneous goods and services at 3.4 percent.
Mandaue’s decline was first seen in May, dropping to 7.3 percent from 7.6 percent in April. This downward trend continued in June with the decrease of 7.4 percent.
Cebu City’s inflation rate fell with the decrease to 5.3 percent in July 2024 from 5.9 percent in June. But this was higher than 2.9 percent in July 2023.
The factors on the downtrend in Cebu City were housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels.
Lapu-Lapu City dropped to 6.1 percent in July 2024 compared to 6.5 percent in June. But this remains high compared to 2.1 percent in July 2023.
The city’s downtrend was due to housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels index, which decreased to 4.6 percent from 5.5 percent in June.