ILOILO CITY – The inflation rate in January is the lowest for Western Visayas since 2019.

CONSUMERS buy fish in a stall in Iloilo City. (Tara Yap)
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA)-6 said that prices of basic goods and services dropped 0.2 percent from 3.2 percent in December to three percent last month.
“The downtrend in the headline inflation in January 2024 was mainly due to the slower annual growth in the index of food and non-alcoholic beverages with 4.2 percent inflation rate in January 2024 from seven percent in December 2023,” said Nelida Amolar, PSA-6 officer-in-charge and chief statistical specialist.
Other factors were lower health, transport, information and communication, recreation, personal care, financial services, and furnishings, household equipment, and routine household maintenance prices.
All areas in Western Visayas had slower inflation rate.
Guimaras still has the highest inflation rate in January with 4.6 percent. The regional capital of Iloilo had the lowest inflation rate last month at -1.1 percent.
Antique had a 3.6 percent inflation rate, three percent in Aklan, 2.8 percent in Capiz, 2.5 percent in Bacolod City, 2.2 percent in Negros Occidental, and 1.2 percent in Iloilo.