Headline inflation rate, which is the year-on-year price movement of goods and services, in Aklan grew faster at 7.7 percent in December 2022 from 7.5 percent in the preceding month, according to Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
The December figure is relatively higher compared to 1.7 percent inflation reported a year ago and matched the highest rate in October 2022, since January 2019.
The uptrend was primarily due to faster increases in Housing, water, electricity gas and other fuels commodity group at 6.8 percent against 6.2 percent in November.
It was followed by Furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance which inflated to 10.2 percent from 9.0 percent in the past month.
Food and non-alcoholic beverages hit 10.5 percent in December, a slight spike from 10.4 percent in November.
Other commodity groups also exhibited faster inflation rates in December 2022 from their respective levels in the previous month, particularly Personal care, and miscellaneous goods and services (2 percent), Alcoholic beverages and tobacco (10), and health (1.5).
On the other hand, Transport items slowed down by 11.9 percent in December from 13.1 percent in November, while and Recreation, sport and culture exhibited a downtrend to 2.3 in December from 2.4 in November.
Other major commodity groups retained the same inflation rates as November 2022.
The consumer price index of all commodities which expresses the change in the average retail prices of a fixed basket of goods and services commonly purchased by the households relative to 2018 prices, was estimated at 118.1 this month.
This translates to a purchasing power of peso at 85 centavos per one peso in 2018 and further indicates that in order to buy the same P1,000 worth of goods and services in 2018, an individual needs an additional income of Php181 to buy them in December 2022.
