CAMIGUIN (PIA)--The Province of Camiguin registered a record-high inflation rate of 9.5% in the month of December 2022.

This has further increased from the registered rate of 9.0 percent in November 2022, recording an increase of 0.5 percentage points. With this recorded rate, the province’s average inflation rate from January to December 2022 stood at 6.7%. Furthermore, the inflation rate was 4.5% in December 2021.

All five provinces in the Northern Mindanao region recorded an increased inflation rate in December 2022, while Camiguin recorded the highest annual inflation rate across the region in the same month. The province of Misamis Oriental also recorded its highest inflation rate since 2019 at 8.5 percent, higher by 0.3 percentage points than the previously reported rate of 8.2 percent in November 2022.

It is followed by Misamis Occidental, where it registered its year-high inflation rate at 7.8 percent, up from 7.4 percent in November 2022. Then, the provinces of Bukidnon and Lanao del Norte had rates of inflation of 7.3% and 6%, respectively.

Furthermore, inflation in Region 10 went up to 7.8 percent in December 2022, recording a 0.4 percentage point increase over the rate registered in November 2022 at 7.4 percent. This was the ninth rise in a row in the last ten months of 2022, bringing the average inflation rate for the region to 5.8 percent for the whole year.
The higher annual increases in the following indices primarily influenced the increased inflation rate in December 2022: Food and non-alcoholic beverages (13.7%) increased by 1.6 percentage points from (12.1%) in November 2022; housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels (5.7%) increased from (5.2%) in November 2022;

Recreation, sports, and culture (5.5%) increased from (5.5%) in November 2022; restaurants and accommodation services (17.6%) increased from (16.3%) in November 2022; and personal care and miscellaneous goods and services (6.0%) increased from (5.8%) in November 2022.

 Meanwhile, the following indices exhibited lower inflation rates in the month of December 2022: alcoholic beverages and tobacco (7.3%), clothing and footwear (3.7%), furnishings, household equipment, and routine maintenance of the house (2.1%), health (1.3%), and transport (9.7%).
On the other hand, the indices of information and communication, and education services had retained their recorded rates in November 2022 at 0.1 and 1.3 percent, respectively, while the financial services index recorded zero percent annual growth during the month of December 2022.

The food group index, the most heavily weighted index, also had the highest inflation uptick in the province as it rose further to 13.7 percent, recording a 1.6 percentage point increase from 12.1 percent in November 2022. Contributing to this uptrend were the sub-indices of cereals (8.2%), rice (8.2%), flour, bread and other bakery products, pasta products and other cereals (11.2%);

Meat and other parts of slaughtered land animals (15.6%), milk, other dairy products, and eggs (33.9%), vegetables, tubers, cooking bananas and pulses (19.1%), sugar, confectionery and desserts (43.1%), and ready-made food and other food products not elsewhere classified (6.5%).

Meanwhile, annual increases slowed down in the indices of oils and fats (11.2%), and fruits and nuts (6.0%). (PSA Camiguin/PIA-10/Camiguin)