The inflation rate at the regional level, for the bottom 30% income households decelerated to 2.8 percent in December 2024 or a 0.6 percentage point decrease from the November 2024 inflation. The index was recorded at 5.3 percent in the same reference month of the previous year.  The main contributor to the downtrend of inflation was  food and non-alcoholic beverages with 2.6 percent inflation.

INFLATION RATE BY COMMODITY GROUP

Moreover, lower annual gains were observed in the inflation rates of personal care, and miscellaneous goods and services (2.1% inflation), clothing and footwear (1.1% inflation) and furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance (0.9% inflation).

On the other hand, the following commodity groups recorded a higher annual increment in December 2024, compared with the indices in the previous month:
• Restaurants and Accommodation Services (6.8% inflation)
• Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco (5.1% inflation)
• Recreation, Sport and Culture (3.8% inflation)
• Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels (3.1% inflation)
• Health (2.3% inflation), and 
• Transport (0.2% inflation).

Meanwhile, the commodity groups of education services (2.7% inflation), financial services (-1.4% inflation) and information and communication (-0.2% inflation) retained their previous month’s inflation rate.

INFLATION RATE BY FOOD GROUP

The region’s food index further decelerated to 2.7 percent in December 2024, from 4.1 percent in the previous month, and 4.8 percent in December 2023. Moreover, the downtrend in food inflation was mainly contributed by rice with -0.2 percent inflation.

Additionally, flour, bread and other bakery products, pasta products and other cereals (2.3% inflation) and vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas and pulses (3.4% inflation) posted lower annual indices in December 2024.

In contrast, five food groups registered a faster growth in their December 2024 inflation rate.

INFLATION RATE BY PROVINCE
 

Among the provinces and highly urbanized city in the region, Occidental Mindoro had the highest inflation for the bottom 30 percent income households, with 6.3 percent, while Palawan posted the lowest, with -0.6 percent.

Additionally, the provinces of Marinduque (2.1% inflation) and Oriental Mindoro (5.4% inflation) recorded higher growth in December 2024, compared with their previous month’s inflation rate.

The provinces of Occidental Mindoro, Romblon and the City of Puerto Princesa showed an ease in their inflation.   Meanwhile, the average price of goods and services in the province of Palawan recorded a general decline, with -0.6 percent inflation in December 2024.