Table A. Year-on-Year Inflation Rates for Zamboanga Peninsula and Zamboanga City, All Items
In Percent   
(2018=100)
 

Zamboanga City

Headline inflation in Zamboanga City increased further to 5.1 percent in May 2024 from 
4.9 percent in April 2024. This brings the city’s average inflation from January 2024 to 
May 2024 to 3.8 percent. In May 2023, inflation rate was slightly lower at 4.2 percent. 
(Table A and Figure 1).

The main driver on the uptrend of the overall inflation in May 2024 was still due to the annual increase of the commodity group Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and other Fuels with inflation rate recorded at 7.8 percent from 6.1 percent noted in the preceding month. This commodity group was the top contributor in the uptrend of inflation in Zamboanga City for May 2024. Another commodity group that also contributed to the acceleration of inflation was the indices of Transport at 
1.7 percent from (0.8) percent in April 2024. Likewise, the commodity group, Clothing and Footwear registered a 1.8 percent inflation rate which was higher compared to the 1.5 percent in April 2024.

In contrast, the only commodity group which recorded a lower inflation rate for May 2024 was Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages at 5.3 percent from 6.0 percent in April 2024.

Meanwhile, the following commodity groups retained their previous month’s inflation rates:
a.    Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco, 4.5 percent
b.    Education Services, 18.9 percent
c.    Furnishing, Household Equipment and Routine Household Maintenance, 1.8 percent
d.    Health, 2.2 percent
e.    Information and Communication, 1.0 percent
f.    Recreation, Sport, and Culture, 2.0 percent
g.    Restaurants and Accommodation Services, 3.0 percent
h.    Personal Care, Miscellaneous Goods and Services, 2.3 percent
i.    Financial Services, 0.0 percent

Table B. Year-on- Year Inflation Rates in Zamboanga City, All Items
In Percent
January 2020 – May 2024
(2018=100)

Table C. Year-On-Year Inflation Rates by Commodity Groups in Zamboanga City for all Income Households, 2018=100

Food inflation in Zamboanga City for May 2024 further slowed down to 5.7 percent from 
6.5 percent in April 2024. In May 2023, food inflation was higher at 6.9 percent.

The downtrend in the deceleration of food inflation in May 2024 was brought about by the lower annual growth rate of the food index of Cereals and cereal products (ND) recorded at 
16.3 percent from 19.1 percent in April 2024. Cereals also contributed to lower food inflation at 21.1 percent from 25.5 percent.

The other food indices which recorded a decrease in the food inflation in May 2024:
a.    Rice, 21.3 percent from 25.8 percent
b.    Fish and other Seafood, (2.0) percent from 0.8 percent
c.    Milk, other dairy products and eggs, 1.3 percent from 8.8 percent
d.    Sugar, confectionery and desserts, (5.5) percent from (5.1) percent
In contrast, higher year-on-year growth rates were observed in the indices of the following food commodity in May 2024:
a.    Corn, 6.8 percent from 6.1 percent
b.    Flour, Bread and other Bakery Products, Pasta Products and other Cereals, 5.3 percent from 4.8 percent
c.    Meat and other parts of slaughtered land animals, (0.6) percent from (0.8) percent
d.    Oils and Fats, (0.2) percent from (0.5) percent
e.    Fruits and nuts, 11.6 percent from 9.6 percent
f.    Vegetable, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas and pulses, 3.8 percent from (4.3) percent
g.    Ready-made-food and other food products n.e.c, 8.9 percent from 6.2 percent

Note: CPIs and inflation rates by province and selected city are posted at the PSA website (http://openstat.psa.gov.ph/).

MEWCHUN WS. PAMARAN
Regional Director

MFET/mgcn