CAMIGUIN (PIA)--The annual inflation rate in Camiguin eased to 7.8 percent in August 2022, after recording successive increases for five consecutive months starting March 2022. 

This brings the year to date inflation rate of the province to 5.7 percent. The recorded rate, however, is 3.7 percentage points higher than the registered rate of 4.1 percent in August 2021.

Camiguin still registered the highest annual inflation rate amongst the provinces in the Northern Mindanao region in August 2022. This was followed by Misamis Oriental, with a registered rate of 7.0 percent, greater than the reported rate of 6.0 percent in July 2022 by 1.0 percentage points. Lanao del Norte continued posting the lowest inflation rate in the region for the month of August 2022 at 4.1 percent.

Meanwhile, the region's inflation rate accelerated further to 6.6 percent in August 2022, registering a 0.3 percentage point increase over the rate recorded in July 2022. Inflation at the national level, however, slightly decelerated to 6.3 percent in August 2022, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the registered rate of 6.4 percent in July 2022.

The slower rate of increase in the overall inflation rate in August 2022 was mainly due to the slightly slower increases posted in the indices of alcoholic beverages and tobacco (8.8%), transport (12.2%), and personal care and miscellaneous goods and services (6.0%).  

On the other hand, faster rate of increases were posted in the indices of the heavily weighted food and non-alcoholic beverages (9.6%), housing, water, electricity, recreation, sports, and culture (6.8%), furnishings, household equipment and routine maintenance of the house (3.3%), recreation, sports and culture (6.8%), and education services (19.7%).

Meanwhile, clothing and footwear (3.5%), health (4.2%), information and communication (0.2%), restaurants and accommodation services (12.7%), and financial services (0.0%) indices posted same annual rates in August 2022 with that of July 2022.

Food group indices, on the other hand, continued to rise at 9.9 percent annual rate in August 2022. An increase of 0.2 percentage points than the posted rate of 9.7 percent in July 2022. 

This increase was primarily due to increments recorded in the indices of cereals (0.4%), rice (0.4%), flour, bread and other bakery products, pasta products and other cereals (6.2%), milk, other dairy products, and eggs (45.3%), oils and fats (10.3%),  vegetables, tubers, cooking bananas and pulses (4.3%), sugar, confectionery and desserts (33.1%), ready-made food and other food products not elsewhere classified (6.9%).

Slower rate of increases, however, were registered in the indices of meat and other parts of slaughtered land animals at 7.3 percent, fish and other seafood at 10.6 percent, and fruits and nuts at 19.2 percent in August 2022. (PSA-Camiguin/PIA-10/Camiguin)