ILOILO CITY – Prices of basic commodities in Western Visayas rose in April this year.
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), inflation in rate in the region has accelerated to 4.9 percent in April 2022, posting an increase of 0.3 from the 4.6 percent inflation rate recorded in March this year.
“This marks the highest inflation since January 2019,” the PSA report said.
“Inflation in April of the previous year was lower at 3.9 percent. The average inflation rate for the first four months of the year was recorded at 4.3 percent,” the PSA report added.
PSA also noted that five of the six provinces registered higher inflation rates in April 2022 with Negros Occidental province registering the highest inflation rate at 7.7 percent.
Iloilo province had the lowest rate at 1.9 percent. The highly urbanized cities of Iloilo and Bacolod both had an inflation rate of 4.6 percent.
The rapid acceleration in the region’s inflation was mainly triggered by transportation expenses which saw a notable increase to 10.7 percent in April from 7.9 percent in March this year.
The other contributing factor in the inflation rate was an increase in the price index for housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels at 3.6 percent.