DAVAO CITY – The Davao region logged a 9.7 percent inflation rate last November, the highest among the 17 regions in the country.
A report released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA)-Davao on Sunday, Jan. 8, said the region’s inflation rate slightly improved compared to the 9.8 percent in October, the highest increase reported in the first 11 months of 2022.
From January to November, the average inflation was 7.3 percent.
During the Davao region’s 2022 Socioeconomic Performance and Development Outlook for 2023 on Dec. 28, Maria Lourdes Lim, director of the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA)-Davao, said the continuous high inflation remains a challenge for the region.
“With high inflation, the purchasing power of the peso is reduced and the country’s vulnerable sectors shall be negatively affected,” she said.
Lim added that ensuring food security in the short and long term through timely importation and addressing long-standing supply-side constraints in agriculture value chains must be done.
The PSA-Davao said that deceleration was due to the lower annual growth rate in the index of transport at 13.4 percent from 15.3 percent in October, and the lower annual index of housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels at 7.7 percent from 8.4 percent.
Western Visayas had the second-highest inflation rate in November at 9.6 percent. Zamboanga Peninsula was third at 8.9 percent.
The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao had the lowest inflation at six percent.
National inflation in November was eight percent.