Inflation for all income households in highly-urbanized Bacolod City dropped further to 3.2 percent in October, following the 3.9 percent rate in September and 5.7 percent in August, a report released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA)-Negros Occidental showed.

“The decline in inflation rate was attributed to a slight decrease in the indices of some commodities like food and non-alcoholic beverages and housing/water/electricity/gas and other fuels,” chief statistical specialist John Campomanes said in the summary inflation and consumer price index (CPI) report.

There was also a slight decrease in the price indices of other commodities, including furnishings/household equipment and routine household maintenance, transport, information and communication, recreation/sports and culture, restaurants and accommodation services, and personal care and miscellaneous goods and services.

Year-on-year, Bacolod City’s inflation is lower than the 6.4 percent posted in October 2023.

In Negros Occidental, the October inflation rate for all income households “exhibited a slight increase to 3.5 percent compared to the previous month’s rate at 3.2 percent,” but posted a decline from 7.8 percent in October 2023.

“Some commodities were noted to have a positive annual growth rate, like food and non-alcoholic beverages, clothing and footwear, housing/water/electricity/gas and other fuels, health, and personal care, and miscellaneous goods and services,” Campomanes said.

The CPI provides a general measure of the changes in average retail prices of commodities bought by a specific group of consumers in a given area and period.

Inflation is the annual rate of change or the year-on-year change of the CPI expressed in percent and interpreted in terms of the declining purchasing power of money. (PNA)