Inflation in Western Visayas edges up to 0.7% in October

By Francis Allan L. Angelo

The inflation rate in Western Visayas rose slightly to 0.7 percent in October 2025, up from 0.2 percent in September, driven mainly by higher costs in housing utilities, food, and restaurant services.

According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the year-to-date regional inflation stood at 1.5 percent, still significantly lower than the 4.1 percent posted in October 2024.

The uptick was primarily attributed to the 1.1 percent increase in the housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels category, which reversed a -0.3 percent decline in September.

Food and non-alcoholic beverages also contributed to the upward trend, with their negative inflation rate easing to -1.4 percent from -1.8 percent the month prior.

The restaurants and accommodation services sector further pushed inflation upward with a 4.7 percent increase in October, compared to 4.0 percent in September.

Other sectors that posted higher inflation included furnishings and household maintenance at 5.4 percent, transport at 1.9 percent, recreation and culture at 3.8 percent, and personal care items at 3.1 percent.

Meanwhile, alcoholic beverages and tobacco saw a slightly slower inflation rate of 4.4 percent, down from 4.5 percent, while clothing and footwear dipped to 2.5 percent from 2.7 percent.

The inflation rates for health (1.2 percent), information and communication (0.4 percent), education (3.9 percent), and financial services (0.0 percent) remained unchanged from September.

The top contributors to the 0.7 percent inflation were restaurants and accommodation services (0.23 percentage points), housing and utilities (0.19 percentage points), and furnishings and household maintenance (0.19 percentage points).

Food inflation alone posted a -2.2 percent rate in October, an improvement from -2.5 percent in September, though still in stark contrast to the 5.4 percent recorded in October 2024.

This trend was led by a slower decline in cereals and cereal products, which posted a -12.1 percent inflation in October compared to -14.4 percent in the previous month.

Other food categories that saw higher inflation included fish and seafood at 4.3 percent, oils and fats at 5.2 percent, and sugar and desserts at -1.5 percent, an improvement from -1.7 percent.

Conversely, declines were seen in meat (-1.1 percent), milk and eggs (1.4 percent), fruits and nuts (-2.1 percent), and vegetables (11.8 percent, down from 12.9 percent).

The largest contributors to the food inflation were cereals and cereal products (-4.12 percentage points), meat (-0.19 percentage points), and fruits and nuts (-0.11 percentage points).

For the bottom 30 percent income households, inflation also moved upward to -1.4 percent in October from -2.3 percent in September, though this remains far below the 5.9 percent seen in October 2024.

The increase in this segment was due to smaller price declines in food and non-alcoholic beverages (-3.0 percent from -4.0 percent) and housing utilities (-2.8 percent from -5.8 percent).

Across the provinces, most areas recorded an upward trend in inflation, with Iloilo province registering the highest at 1.4 percent and Antique the lowest at -0.9 percent.

Iloilo City reported a 1.9 percent inflation rate, a slight drop from 2.1 percent in September, while Aklan and Guimaras saw no month-on-month change.