Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) recorded Eastern Visayas’s official inflation rate to have risen to 6.3 percent in May which is the highest acceleration recorded since November 2018.
PSA Eastern Visayas Regional Director Wilma Perante said the acceleration of the region’s inflation rate for the month of May was due to the increases in costs of transportation, housing, water, electricity, fuel, personal care and miscellaneous goods and services.
“That means that goods and services that cost P100 in May 2021 is already worth P106.3 in May 2022,” Perante said in an interview.
As of this writing, gas prices had increased by P1.40- P1.60, P4.70- P4.90 for kerosene and P4.20- P4.40 for diesel.
What is even more alarming are the recent reports which states the high possibility of fuel prices reaching up to P100 per liter.
Restaurants and accommodation services , information and communication, alcoholic beverages and tobacco, health and recreation are also among many others which have also contributed to the month’s inflation rate.
In fact, the inflation rate for food and non-alcoholic beverages commodity groups was at 6.1 percent while meat and other parts of slaughtered land animals as well as fruits and nuts continued to register double-digit inflation rates at 17.6 percent and 11.7 percent, respectively.
Of the region’s provinces, Southern Leyte posted the highest rate at 8.7 percent, followed by Northern Samar with 7.1 percent, Leyte with 6.7 percent, Samar with 5.9 percent, Biliran with 5.0 percent and Eastern Samar with 3.8 percent.
Compared to other regions, Eastern Visayas currently ranks fourth with the highest inflation rate in the country.
The Cordillera Autonomous Region currently registered the highest rate at 6.9 percent.
With the current situation of the region, many fear that the current inflation will worsen in the coming months considering the recent increase in labor cost and the seemingly incessant inflation of fuel prices which always triggers a rippling effect to basic commodities.
"Pag umabot pa ng 100 tapos dagdag pa yang increase sa minimum wage na hinati pa sa dalawang trances, maraming magugutom. Kahit pa dumiskarte ng dumiskarte kung ganyan na ang bilihin magugutom ka parin. Kaming mahihirap lalo lang maghihirap," says pedicab driver Donilo.
Inflation is the rate of increase in prices over a given period of time and a high inflation rate is generally considered harmful while some economists believe that a slight inflation can in fact help drive economic growth.