Pangasinan inflation rate now at 9.5 as of May

By CHRISTOPHER O. DOMINGO
Assistant Statistician, NCSO Pangasinan

LAST January 2008, the inflation rate of Pangasinan started at 4.1 after four months, and just before the start of this year, the inflation rate of the province soared more than double to 9.5 These figures made the average inflation rate of this year at 6.46.

Sign of the times? Maybe. But what really is inflation rate? Does this figure affect our daily lives?

For starters, the inflation rate is a measure of inflation, which is a rise in general level of prices of goods and services over time.

When the inflation rate is high, the prices of goods and services have a steeper rate of price change. When the inflation is lower, it means that the rate of increase of the prices of goods and services is slower. All of these is considered within a period of time, and base year as a basis for comparison.

The National Statistics Office (NSO) is using year 2000 as the base year.

Going back to the figures above, since the inflation rate of the province at the end of January is lower than that at the end of May, it means that the rate of price increase during January is slower than that by the end of May. The prices are still increasing, but at a different pace.

There are several reasons that can be attributed to the higher inflation rate as of late. According to the article posted in the Business section online Philippine Daily Inquirer;
(http:business.inquirer.net/money/personalfinance/view/20080617-146133/How-to-combat-inflation)

“One is the increase in international oil prices. As a barrel of oil skyrocketed to more than $130 per barrel this year, pump prices worldwide have gone up as well. And because many industries depend on oil and gasoline to run their manufacturing operatrions, everything else is affected, from food to electricity charges.”

Moreover, the same article also stated that:

“Another reason for the steep hike in inflation is the tight supply of rice worldwide. This supply problem has driven up the cost of rice, and affected other goods as well. We Filipinos are more affected than other countries since rice is our staple food.”

“Still another reason is the increase in transport fares. Most of the population depends on public transport to get to their destinations. As a result, the prices of basic commodities sold in the, market have increased , triggering the price hike in almost everything else.”

The increase of inflation rate is not a new phenomenon and it is a normal occurrence in the economy of any country. It is also due to the increase in inflation that the purchasing power of the peso decreases. We all feel this even more these days, since the inflation rate hit the highest. Everything seems to rise and we have to cope up with our daily lives.

We did not feel the harsh realities of this period last year, since the inflation rate was only 2.3 at the average.

Even though there are normal price increases within a period of time, there are certain periods where the price increases are faster than normal. Looking back to the late 2004 to early 2005, we can see that Pangasinan posted the highest inflation rates during these months. October 2004 has 9.5 inflation rate, the same as today. November 2004 increased to 9.8 and that year ended with an inflation rate of 10.4.

However, inflation rate did not stop there, as January 2005 posted an 11.8 inflation rate and played at that level until May 2006 with 11.3. From there, the inflation rate went down to 9.6 in June that same year—still higher than today.

Inflation was controlled during 2006 where the province started at 8.5 in January 2006 and continuously went down to 3.2 by the end of the year.