Inflation in Central Visayas slowed to 8.1% in August from 8.7% in July, with slower increases in food prices accounting for most of the regional deceleration, the Philippine Statistics Authority in Central Visayas (PSA 7) reported.
The August rate was still higher than the 3% inflation recorded in the region during the same month in 2025. The region’s average inflation from January to August 2026 stood at 8.4%.
Central Visayas was among six regions that recorded slower inflation in August, while 11 regions posted higher rates compared with July.
Food and non-alcoholic beverages posted an inflation rate of 8.5% in August, down from 10.7% in July. The commodity group accounted for 84.7% of the overall slowdown in regional inflation.
Among food items, inflation for vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas and pulses dropped to 19% from 33%. Inflation for cereals and cereal products eased to 11.2% from 12.9%, while fruits and nuts slowed to 9.8% from 20%.
Inflation for restaurants and accommodation services also declined to 10.3% from 11.1%, contributing 7.8% to the overall slowdown.
Eight of the 13 major commodity groups monitored by PSA 7 recorded lower inflation rates in August.
However, price increases accelerated in several other groups. Transport inflation rose to 16.2% from 14.7%, while housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels increased to 7.2% from 6.6%. Health inflation also rose to 4.3% from 3.7%.
Food and non-alcoholic beverages remained the largest contributor to the region’s 8.1% inflation, followed by housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, and transport. PSA 7 said these three groups accounted for 42.3%, 19.7% and 17.8% of the overall inflation, respectively.
Among Central Visayas provinces and highly urbanized cities, Bohol was the only area where inflation accelerated, reaching 7.9% in August from 6.7% in July.
Inflation, meanwhile, slowed in Cebu province and the cities of Cebu, Lapu-Lapu and Mandaue. Cebu province’s inflation eased to 9.5% from 10.9%, while Cebu City’s rate declined to 7.4% from 8.4%. Lapu-Lapu City posted 4.7%, down from 5.7%, while Mandaue City’s inflation slowed to 5.9% from 6.6%.
PSA 7 Officer-in-Charge Wilma A. Perante said the agency collects price data around the middle of every month to provide government planners with timely information on price movements.
Perante said diesel inflation had eased to as low as 1.4% by the end of 2025.
“We continue to hope that we can bring inflation back down to the lower levels we’ve experienced before, and that will take the right interventions,” Perante said.
To help vulnerable households cope with higher prices, the national government is also providing assistance through the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s Unified Package for Livelihoods, Industry, Food and Transport (UPLIFT) program.
Qualified households receive P2,000 a month from July to December unless the energy emergency is lifted earlier.
In Central Visayas, 135,834 eligible 4Ps families were set to receive a one-time P2,000 UPLIFT top-up. DSWD 7 said the beneficiaries comprise 33,391 families in Bohol and 102,443 in Cebu.
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