PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Palawan (PIA) –The rice importation and the prices of fish observed in August influenced the deceleration of inflation for Palawan and Puerto Princesa despite the heavy rains experienced, says the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
PSA Palawan Supervising Statistical Specialist and Officer-in-Charge Donna Marie Mobe said that the impacts of heavy rains between August and September did not manifest in the movement of prices of agricultural products, particularly on fish and other seafood.
The importation of rice supply also influenced the slower price movement in Palawan and Puerto Princesa.
“Ang naging tag-ulan natin ay in between ng August and July, and September na nangyari. Sa fish, maganda ang production natin, may pag-ulan pero hindi ganon ang heavy rains, kasi in between ang dalawang bagyo, naging kalmado ang dagat kaya ang production niya ay maganda. Ang presyo ay bumababa rin,” she said.
The commodity group of food and non-alcoholic beverages contributed the most to deceleration, wherein 3.8 percent recorded in Palawan and 5.1 percent in Puerto Princesa.
The food weighs 50 percent of the market basket and influences the trend of an inflation rate in the area.
The inflation in Palawan decelerated to 3.3 percent from July’s 4.5 percent, while Puerto Princesa’s rate decreased to 4.3 percent from 5.4 percent.
Other commodity groups influencing Palawan’s rate are transport and housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels, which share -5.8 percent and 8.5 percent, respectively.
The same groups also contributed to Puerto Princesa’s rate with -5.1 percent for transport and 9.8 percent for housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels.
“Bumaba rin ang diesel o gasoline kaya marami ang nakalabas,” she added.
The same movement of rates is also observed by PSA in the bottom 30 percent of households for both Palawan and Puerto Princesa.
The slower movement of inflation among provinces in MIMAROPA also influenced the rate of the region, which decreased 4.1 percent from 5.0 percent in July. Occidental Mindoro is the lone province that showed an acceleration in rate from 8.7 to 8.8 percent in August. (RG/ PIA MIMAROPA-Palawan)
