The off-season harvest of agricultural products and increased rates in internet cafes have pushed the acceleration of the inflation rate in Palawan for June 2023, the local office of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported.
The commodity groups of food and non-alcoholic beverages and information and communication contributed 10.5 percent and 2.0 percent, respectively.
Supervising Statistical Specialist Evelyn Apellido said that the off-season harvest manifested in the rates of cereals and cereal products, fish and other seafood, and meat and other parts of slaughtered land animals.
“Ang buwan kasi ng June ay hindi pa buwan ng pag-ani, yon ang dahilan kung bakit apektado ang supply ng bigas sa ating merkado. Pagdating sa isda, marami ang bagyong dumaan sa atin isama pa natin ang liwanag ng buwan,” she said.
The second commodity group that showed a fast acceleration in the inflation rate is information and communication, which includes internet access services, information processing equipment, and mobile telephone equipment.
The PSA observed an increase in the rate per hour of internet cafés in the province, which is used by some locals for gaming and communication. This acceleration caused the inflation rate in Palawan to move from 6.5 percent in May to 6.9 percent in June. The current rate is still considered lower than the 8.4 percent rate in June 2022.
The city of Puerto Princesa remained constant at 4.2 percent and is still lower than the 7.7 percent rate in June 2022. Puerto Princesa is the only area in the region that showed the slowest inflation among the five provinces and one urban city.
This inflation rate is contributed by food and non-alcoholic beverages at 5.0 percent, restaurants and accommodation services at 12.0 percent, and clothing and footwear at 7.8 percent.
“I believe it’s a sign na gumaganda na ang ating ekonomiya sa Puerto Princesa, kasi hindi tumaas, maintain lang siya,” she said.
The current purchasing power of P100 in Palawan is amounting to P80, and P80 for Puerto Princesa.
Meanwhile, the region of MIMAROPA remained constant at 7.2 percent, but considered higher than the rate in June 2022 at 5.9 percent.
