Inflation rate at 7.4%

Bohol’s all time high

TAGBILARAN CITY Bohol (PIA)— Inflation rate in Bohol in May reached an all time high of 7.4 percent, after consistently tracking an upward trend since its lowest at 0.2 percent in December of 2025, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) in Bohol show.

From 0.2 percent in December, the rate stated to climb to 2.2 percent in January, to 3.0 perce t, 4.5 percent in March and then 7.2 in April.

The 7.4 percent inflation rate may be higher than the national over-all inflation which has tamed down to 6.8 from a 7.2 inflation in April, but it is still considerably lower than the over-all inflation of Central Visayas which is pegged at a double digit of 10.8 since April.

PSA chief supervising statistician Jessamyne Anne Alcazaren pointed to the faster year-on-year increase in the index prices of heavily weighted food and non alcoholic beverages from 7.0 percent in April to 8.0 percent in May, 2026.

However, the main constributors to the inflation uptrend, according to the PSA data are food and non-alcoholic beverages, which eat a sizable pie in a Boholano family’s budget, and then another heavily weighted transport followed by housing, water, electricity , gas and other fuels.

As to the PSA, food inflation in Bohol went up to 8.4 percent from 7.3 percent in April.

This is because if the higher increase of prices in vegetables, tubers, plantians, cooking bananas and pulses which spiked from 7.4 percent in April to 27.0 percent in May.

Rice, which is still considerably stocked in Bohol homes, still crept to 13.1 percent from 12.1 percent in April.

Fruits and nuts also joined the fray from 3.4 percent to 4.6 percent, and corn pegged a 33.5 to 35.2 percent.

The economic situation could have been even bleaker, had meat and other parts of slaughtered land animals, fish and other seafood, milk and other dairy products including eggs, sugar, confectionery and desserts as well as ready-made food and other food products did not act as the counterweight for the rising prices of food.

Already feeling the pinch caused by the starting drought, food supplies have dwindled and following the law of supply and demand, which necessarily drove the prices of commodities up.

In athe year-on-year inflation rates for all monitored commodities, items and services in Bohol, El Nino year of 2022-2023 brought the highest inflation climbing to 10.4 in July before its dipped back to 5.9 percent in July.

This year, tracking the rate of inflation could show bleaker months ahead, as the state weather bureau has predicted that the long dry spell could stretch until be first quarter of 2027.

Add to that the continuing uncertainty with the Middle East crisis, deprive the world of much needed oil and fuels, and you have an inflation that never settles, observers said.

For the Boholanos who who are considered belonging to the bottom 30% income households, the 7.4 percent inflation is already 8.6 percent to them.

The poor in Central Visayas are no better, with 8.8 percent food inflation rising to 8.6 percent from 6.9 percent in April.

This helped household set the effects of a food inflation steaming at 10.2 percent from 8.8 percent in April, 2026. (PIABohol)

CHARACTERISTIC OF DROUGHT YEARS. Tighten belts, bring food production to the households as the long dry season spells ill in food production, which consequently affects supply and demand, thus triggering inflation surges. The 2022-2023 El Nino season, according to PSA data, brought the inflation rate to a peak of 10.4 percent, before it subsided to lower levels months later when the weather stabilized. (PIAbohol)