Manila, March 12 -- The headline inflation rate of Western Visayas accelerated to 3 percent in February from 2.3 percent in January, but still lower than the 3.1 percent rate in the same month in 2025, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Thursday.

PSA data showed the steady increase in the inflation rate since September 2025, after registering -0.3 percent in August of the same year.

For the first two months of 2026, the average inflation was 2.6 percent.

Of the 13 commodity groups that were monitored, only one registered slower inflation, two retained their January rate, and the rest recorded an uptrend.

According to the PSA, the uptrend in overall inflation in February was mainly due to the faster annual growth in ...