‘Only Apayao recorded downtrend inflation rate in CAR last month’-PSA

Tabuk City, Kalinga – Among the provinces and the chartered city of Cordillera, only Apayao reflected a lower inflation rate in March 2024.

The regional Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA - Cordillera) office, at a Friday briefing, said that inflation rate in Apayao decelerated from 6.9 percent in February to 4.9 percent in March. This is a good sign of rising economy.

The rest of the provinces logged inflation acceleration.

Ifugao, said the agency, had the highest inflation in the with 6.8 percent, followed by Benguet with 4.7 percent, Abra with 3.8 percent, Baguio City with 3.6 percent, and Kalinga with 2.7 percent.

Meanwhile, Mountain Province saw an increase in inflation rate to 1.4 percent from 0.3 in February. This is by far the lowest inflation in March.

Among the major accelerators in Cordillera’s inflation were food and non-alcoholic beverages which accounted for a 68.6 percent in the region’s overall inflation, which is now at 4 percent from 3.1 percent in February.

Also contributing to the upward trend were housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels with 20.7 percent share.