TACLOBAN CITY, April 12 -- Eastern Visayas recorded a 3.4 percent inflation rate in March, the region's slowest in six months and sixth among all regions, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported Friday.

The previous slowest rate of price increase in the region was 4.9 percent in September 2023, while the February level was at 3.7 percent.

In a press briefing, PSA Eastern Visayas Director Wilma Perante traced the downward trend to the faster annual decrease in the housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels index at 3.2 percent in March 2024 from an annual decrease of 1.6 percent in February.

"The slower inflation rate in the indices of food and non-alcoholic beverages at 6.5 percent this month from 6.7 percent in Febru...