Negros Occidental inflation rises to 1.2% in December

BACOLOD CITY — Inflation in Negros Occidental accelerated to 1.2 percent in December 2025, up from 0.7 percent in November, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) Negros Occidental.

The year-on-year increase marks a significant decline from the 3.7 percent recorded in December 2024.

In Bacolod City, the inflation rate also rose to 2.7 percent in December, up from 2.1 percent the previous month.

This was slightly higher than the 2.4 percent posted in the same month in 2024.

Nationwide, the Philippines registered a 1.8 percent inflation rate in December 2025, while the Negros Island Region recorded 1.3 percent, based on PSA’s Retail Price Survey for the Consumer Price Index.

Food, personal care drive price increases

In Negros Occidental, the main driver of the December inflation uptrend was the food and non-alcoholic beverages index, which rebounded to 1.0 percent in December from -0.6 percent in November.

This category contributed 40.4 percent to the inflation rise, and accounted for a 97.1 percent share of total inflation pressure in the province.

Other commodity groups with higher inflation rates included:

• Personal care and miscellaneous goods and services: 2.1 percent (up from 1.8 percent)
• Health: 2.2 percent (up from 1.9 percent)

Conversely, several major categories posted slower inflation, including:

• Alcoholic beverages and tobacco: 6.3 percent (down from 7.2 percent)
• Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels: 0.0 percent (down from 1.4 percent)
• Transport: 1.6 percent (down from 2.7 percent)

Commodity groups such as information and communication (0.3 percent), education services (-2.5 percent), and financial services (0.0 percent) retained their previous month’s inflation rates.

Bacolod sees steeper gains in housing and food

Bacolod City’s 2.7 percent inflation was driven by two main categories:

• Food and non-alcoholic beverages, with inflation jumping to 2.3 percent from 0.3 percent in November. This category accounted for a 30.1 percent share of the inflation increase and 89.7 percent of total inflation contribution.
• Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, which rose to 3.8 percent from 3.6 percent, contributing 29.5 percent to the uptick.

Other categories showing higher inflation included:

• Clothing and footwear: 2.2 percent (up from 1.7 percent)
• Personal care and miscellaneous goods and services: 4.5 percent (up from 4.3 percent)

Alcoholic beverages and tobacco dropped to 2.8 percent from 5.5 percent, while transport slowed to 1.0 percent from 2.6 percent.

Several other categories, such as education services (3.7 percent) and restaurants and accommodation services (3.3 percent), remained unchanged.

Inflation for lower-income households eases

For the bottom 30 percent income households, inflation in Negros Occidental rose slightly to 0.4 percent in December from 0.1 percent in November 2025.

However, this was still significantly below the 3.9 percent inflation rate recorded in December 2024.

The main source of the increase was personal care and miscellaneous goods and services, which rose to 2.1 percent from 1.7 percent, contributing 20.2 percent to the overall uptick.

Meanwhile, food and non-alcoholic beverages continued to post deflation at -0.1 percent, though it remained the largest contributor to overall inflation with a 96.0 percent share.

In Bacolod City, inflation for the bottom 30 percent income households rose to 1.4 percent in December from 0.9 percent the month prior. The key drivers were:

Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels: 4.5 percent (up from 4.3 percent), contributing 46.0 percent

Personal care and miscellaneous goods and services: 4.6 percent (up from 4.3 percent), contributing 14.6 percent

Despite overall inflation, food and non-alcoholic beverages remained in deflation territory at -0.2 percent, after recording -1.7 percent in November.

This category, however, still accounted for 91.8 percent of the overall inflation contribution for lower-income households.