PSA: Inflation up 9.3% in Ilocos region January

By John Michael Mugas

LAOAG CITY, Ilocos Norte — Prices of goods and services continued to rise in the Ilocos region, with inflation accelerating to 9.3 percent in January compared to 8.2 percent a month earlier, according to the report by the regional Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) released on February 9.
    The PSA added that the recent figure was 5.9 percent higher than the region’s 3.4 percent recorded inflation rate during the same period last year.
    The January inflation rate in the region was higher than the national average at 8.7 percent.
    What mainly drove the “accelerated inflation” in the region was the 12.0 percent increase in housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels.
    The PSA said that food and non-alcoholic beverages, as well as alcoholic beverages and tobacco, also contributed to the overall higher inflation rate, at 11.7 percent and 8.6 percent, respectively.
    The latest inflation data also showed that food prices also jumped to 12.2 percent in January 2023 from 10.2 percent in the previous month.
    The food index rose rapidly from 1.8 percent a year earlier.
    Higher food inflation in the region was pushed by prices in the subgroup of vegetables, tubers, cooking bananas and pulses which shot up to 55.9 percent in January from 40.2 in the previous month.
    Prices also went up for milk, other dairy products, and eggs by 13.2 percent from 7.9 percent in December 2022. A persistent price increase for fruits and nuts was also noted, from 4.2 percent to 10.2 percent.
    The inflation rate, meanwhile, slowed down transport from 9.8 percent to 8.6 percent. A decline was also noted for oils and fats at 18.7 percent from 20.8, and meat at 4.7 percent from 8.4.
    All the provinces in the region experienced a surge in inflation rates last January, with Ilocos Sur province posting the highest increase at 10.3 percent, up from 7.7 percent during the previous year. Pangasinan followed it, and Ilocos Norte at 10.2 and 7.5 percent, respectively.
    La Union had the lowest January PSA inflation rate at 6.7 percent.