COTABATO CITY—Philippine Statistics Authority’s (PSA-BARMM) report on Wednesday, May 10, shows that the inflation rate in the BARMM region decreased from 7.8 percent in March to 6.7 percent in April, indicating a stable situation in the region’s economy.
PSA-BARMM Officer-in-Charge Regional Director Engr. Akan Tula stated, “At some point, this deceleration of the inflation rate in BARMM can be considered as one of the indicators that the region’s economy is going stable.”
Tula said the main factors contributing to the reduction of the region’s inflation rate were the reduced costs of food and non-alcoholic beverages, transport, housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels.
BARMM ranked sixth out of all 16 regions in the country in terms of inflation rate, and fifth among the regions outside the National Capital Region (NCR) in terms of deceleration of inflation rate for April 2023.
“In the month of April 2023, BARMM inflation rate is 6.7 percent with 1.1 percent decreased compared to 7.8 percent inflation rate in the previous month of March 2023,” Tula stressed.
Among the provinces in BARMM, Tawi-Tawi recorded the highest inflation rate at 10.8 percent, followed by Basilan at 9.4 percent, Sulu at 6.6 percent, Maguindanao with the lowest inflation rate at 6.1 percent, and Lanao Del Sur at 5.4 percent, all showing decreased inflation rates.
The report also mentioned that Cotabato City decreased its inflation rate to 4.9 percent this March 2023 compared to the 5.5 percent inflation rate in the previous month of March 2023.
The headline inflation rate in the entire Philippines decreased to 6.6 percent this month compared to the previous month of March 2023 at 7.6 percent. (Kasan Usop, Jr./BIO)
