ILOCOS NORTE, Philippines – The inflation rate in the Ilocos region further slowed to 2.9% in November from 3.7% in the previous month, according to the latest report released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

The easing of inflation was mainly driven by a “considerable decrease” in a broad range of commodities which included food and non-alcoholic and alcoholic beverages (from 8.9% to 7.2%), tobacco (from 7.6% to 7.4%), clothing and footwear (from 4.8% to 4.2%), furnishings (from 7.1% to 6.6%), and health (from 3.5% to 2.9%).

Deflation was also noted in transport from 0.8% to -1.3%.

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Prices in housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels, however, saw an increase while the rest of commodity groups retained their previous month’s inflation rates, the PSA said.

While the overall food index in the region saw a deflation from 9.3% in October to 7.5% in November, prices still increased for other food categories such as rice from 15.6% to 16.2%, and milk and eggs from 8.5% to 9.1%.

What contributed to the slowing of prices in the food index were fish, cooking oil, vegetables, and sugar, the PSA said.

For November 2023, all provinces in the Ilocos region recorded lower inflation rates in all items as compared to the same period in 2022 which was then at 7.7%.

Pangasinan posted the highest inflation rate at 3.9% in November followed by La Union at 3.7%. Ilocos Norte recorded 0.7% inflation while Ilocos Sur was at -0.3%.

Average inflation in the region from January to November this year was at 5.4%, or still below the inflation rate recorded for the entire 2022 at 5.9%. Rappler.com