CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – In order to survive amid prohibitive prices of goods and services in the country, changing the budgeting style is a must nowadays for consumers. Mae Shanne Angelic Siglos, a call center agent and a mother of three from Barangay Lapasan here, said because of the inflation, she shifted to buying affordable vegetables and canned goods rather than meat and other fresh products. "Because of the inflation, we also minimized our recreational activities and eating out for dinner," Siglos said in the vernacular in an interview with the Manila Bulletin on Thursday. The same sentiments were shared by Kaila Gen Pacamo, a mother of two from Barangay Kauswagan, who said she shifted from buying goods through delivery services to buying groceries in the public market to save. Cherry Mae Lago, an employee of a private company and a resident of Barangay Carmen, said there were no changes to the typical products she usually buys every month. However, she restrained herself from buying less important things online. "The prices of goods have been increasing, but there has been no increase in the rate of an employee’s salary," Lago said in the vernacular. The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Thursday, March 30, reported an eight percent inflation rate in Northern Mindanao for February this year, slightly lower than last month’s rate of 8.4 percent. However, this is still four percent higher compared to the inflation rate in February 2022. PSA-10 Director Janith Aves said the decrease in this month’s inflation was driven by transportation which recorded a decrease in inflation to 7.7 percent from 9.4 percent in January, and food and non-alcoholic beverages with which recorded an 11.8 percent decrease from 12.1 percent. The restaurants and accommodation services also decreased to 7.2 percent inflation rate from 8.2 percent in January. Food and non-alcoholic beverages and transportation were also the major contributors to the February 2023 inflation, including the housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels with 5.3 percent inflation rate. Aves said out of the 13 commodity groups, clothing and footwear (4.5 percent), furnishings, household equipment, and routine household maintenance (4.5 percent), health (2.9 percent), recreation, sports, and culture (2.1 percent), and information and communication (0.4 percent) were the groups that had the fastest increase in prices in February this year. Based on the data presented by PSA-10, the province of Camiguin has the biggest increase in inflation this month, with a 9.3 percent increase from 8.9 percent in January. Meanwhile, the provinces of Misamis Occidental and Misamis Oriental recorded the biggest decrease this month with 7.6 percent from 8.3 percent and 8.2 percent from 8.9 percent, respectively. Out of the five provinces and two highly urbanized cities in Northern Mindanao, Cagayan de Oro City remains the place with the lowest inflation rate at 7.5 percent.