Legazpi city: Inflation in the Bicol Region slightly accelerated to 7.6 percent in June, up from 7.4 percent in May, driven mainly by higher housing-related costs and food prices, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported Thursday.

According to Philippines News Agency, PSA-5 Regional Director Cynthia Perdiz stated that the increase was largely attributed to faster price movements in housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels. These sectors posted an inflation rate of 11.2 percent and accounted for 51.7 percent of the overall inflation uptrend. Under the housing commodity group, electricity recorded an inflation rate of 11.6 percent, while rentals increased by 7.5 percent.

Food and non-alcoholic beverages also contributed to higher inflation, registering 6.0 percent and accounting for 25.5 percent of the overall increase. The primary drivers in this group were higher prices for fish and other seafood at 8.6 percent and for cereals and cereal products at 14.7 percent. Perdiz emphasized that the food group carries the biggest weight in the inflation basket, significantly impacting the overall inflation rate.

Perdiz also noted that Albay recorded the lowest inflation rate among the six provinces at 5.6 percent, indicating that food prices in the province may have been tempered by improved supply, possibly due to harvests. She added that although food remains the biggest contributor, its inflation is already slowing down in Albay.

The top five contributors to the June inflation were rice, with an inflation rate of 19.4 percent; restaurants, caf©s, and similar establishments at 11.1 percent; rentals at 7.5 percent; gasoline at 40.1 percent; and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) at 37.1 percent. For food items, inflation accelerated to 19.4 percent for rice, 10.8 percent for corn, 4.0 percent for flour, bread, and other bakery products, 4.0 percent for fish and other seafood, and 4.9 percent for ready-made food and other food products.

Among the region's provinces, Camarines Norte recorded the highest inflation rate at 9.2 percent, followed by Masbate at 8.4 percent, Camarines Sur at 8.3 percent, Sorsogon at 8.1 percent, Catanduanes at 6.2 percent, and Albay at 5.6 percent.