CALAPAN CITY, Oriental Mindoro: The inflation rate or the rise in prices of commodities and services compared to the purchasing power in the province had gone up to 7.3 percent in August 2023 compared to 6.5 percent in July 2023, signaling the end of the six-month downtrend, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) here said.

In a report posted on their social media page on September 15, the PSA-Oriental Mindoro said that the main reason for the inflation rise is the increase in the prices of rice, vegetables, fish and other aquaculture products.

Food and nonalcoholic beverages had a 48.8 percent share in the inflation, the PSA report said.

This is followed by housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels that has a 20.9 percent share and the third biggest is the restaurants and accommodation services with a share of 10.8 percent.

The PSA report also said that the purchasing power of the peso in the province has slightly gone down to 0.75 percent compared to the 0.76 percent from May until July.

“As a result, the amount of goods that could presently be purchased by consumers were fewer compared to when the purchasing power of peso (PPP) was higher. Furthermore, the decrease in PPP was attributed to the higher inflation rate, given that PPP and inflation rate have an inverse relationship,” the report said.

The report also indicated that food inflation in the province rose to 8.4 percent in August 2023 from 7.8 percent in July 2023.

In August 2022, food inflation rate was lower at 3.8 percent.

The same report said that the acceleration of food inflation in August is brought about by the higher annual growth in fish and other seafood that was followed by vegetables, tubers and plantains.

The agency also noted higher inflation rates in corn, milk, other dairy products and eggs and fruits and nuts.

The average inflation in the province this year is at 9.1 percent.

The inflation rate in the country is at 5.3 percent while in the Mimaropa (Mindoro Occidental and Oriental, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan) Region the rate is at 6.1 percent.