Leyte’s inflation rate further slows down to 0.7 percent in June 2025

Leyte’s inflation rate further slowed to 0.7 percent in June 2025, down from 1.1 percent in May 2025 and 1.5 percent in April 2025. This marks the lowest inflation rate recorded in the province thus far this year. In comparison, the rate was higher at 3.9 percent in June 2024. On the other hand, the region’s inflation rate increased to 0.7 percent in June 2025 from 0.4 percent in May 2025. Among the provinces and the highly urbanized city (HUC) in the region, only Eastern Samar and Northern Samar recorded increases in their respective inflation rates in the month of June 2025.

Main Drivers Contributing to the Downward Trend of Leyte’s Inflation

The following commodity groups emerged as the main drivers to the downward trend in the June 2025 inflation rate of Leyte:

   a. Food and non-alcoholic beverages recorded an inflation rate of 0.8 percent, down from 1.0 percent in the previous month. The main contributors to this downward trend were the slower rate of increase in the prices of vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas and pulses; fruits and nuts; coffee and coffee substitutes; and five other food items and non-alcoholic beverages;

   b. Alcoholic beverages and tobacco recorded an inflation rate of 1.2 percent, down from 1.3 percent in the previous month. This decrease was attributed to the slower rate of increase in the prices of spirits and liquors, tobacco, and other non-food commodities;

   c. Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels posted an inflation rate of 1.4 percent, down from 3.6 percent in the previous month. This was driven by the slower rate of increase in the prices of gas, as well as the decrease in the prices of electricity and the faster rate of decrease in the prices of liquid fuels;

   d. Furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance posted an inflation rate of 1.2 percent, down from 1.3 percent in the previous month. This was caused by the slower rate of increase in the prices of motorized tools and equipment and non-durable household goods, the decrease in prices of non-motorized tools and miscellaneous accessories, and the faster rate of decrease in the prices of small household appliances; and

   e. Health registered an inflation rate of 0.5 percent, down from 0.7 percent in the previous month. This was driven by the slower rate of increase in the prices of medicines and outpatient dental services, as well as the faster rate of decrease in the prices of medical products.

Meanwhile, clothing and footwear and transport posted rates of -0.1 percent and -2.7 percent, respectively, from -0.2 percent and -4.2 percent in the previous month. The former was attributed to the increase in the prices of clothing materials, the slower rate of decrease in the prices of garments and other articles of clothing and clothing accessories, and the faster rate of increase in the prices of cleaning, repair, tailoring and hire of clothing. The latter, on the other hand, was driven by the slower rate of decrease in the prices of fuels and lubricants for personal transport equipment and passenger transport by air.

Top Three Commodities Groups Contributing to the Downward Trend of Leyte’s Inflation

The top three commodity groups contributing to the trend of June 2025 inflation of Leyte were the following:

   a. Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels with 79.5 percent share;

   b. Food and non-alcoholic beverages with 18.1 percent share; and

   c. Health with 1.3 percent share.

On the other hand, the six (6) other major commodity groups maintained their inflation rates from their previous month’s rate:

   a. Education services at 12.6 percent;

   b. Personal care, and miscellaneous goods and services at 1.5 percent;

   c. Recreation, sport and culture at 1.1 percent;

   d. Restaurants and accommodation services at 0.2 percent;

   e. Information and communication at 0.1 percent; and

   f. Financial services at zero percent.

The inflation rate is the general rise in prices over a period. It indicates how fast or how slow price changes over two-time periods. Contrary to common knowledge, low inflation does not necessarily connote that prices are falling instead; it means that prices continue to increase at a slower rate.  It is a derived indicator of the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

The CPI is a measure of change in the average retail prices of goods and services commonly purchased by a particular group of people in a specific area.  The overall CPI in Leyte for June 2025 was 124.1. This implies that the average retail price of goods and services in Leyte is 24.1 percent higher than the average retail prices in 2018 (base year).

Purchasing Power of Peso (PPP) increases to 81 centavos in June 2025

The Purchasing Power of Peso (PPP) in Leyte increased to 81 centavos in June 2025. In contrast, the PPP in the region remained at 80 centavos in June 2025. The 81 centavos purchasing power of peso in Leyte indicates that the same basket of goods and services worth 81 pesos in 2018 (base year) is worth 100 pesos during the reference period.

TECHNICAL NOTES

Rebasing of the CPI is necessary to ensure that this barometer of economic phenomena is truly reflective of current situation. Consumer taste, fashion and technology change over time causing the fixed market basket of goods and services to become outmoded. To capture such changes for a more meaningful price comparison, revision or updating of the fixed market basket, the sample outlets, the weights and the base year had to be done periodically.

BASE PERIOD – refers to the reference period of the index number. It is a period at which the index is set to 100. Current base period is 2018.

COMPUTING THE CPI - The formula used in computing the CPI is the weighted arithmetic mean of price relatives, a variant of the Laspeyres formula with fixed base year period weights.

CONSUMER PRICE INDEX – is a measure of change in the average retail prices of goods and services commonly purchased by a particular group of people in a particular area.

INFLATION RATE – refers to the annual rate of change or year-on-year change in CPI.

MARKET BASKET - refers to a sample of goods and services used to represent all goods and services bought by a particular group of consumers in a particular area.

MONITORING OF PRICES - is to establish baseline information for prices of the items in the base year and monitoring of the prices of the items on a regular basis. Except for Food, Beverage and Tobacco which is monitored on a weekly basis in NCR, price collection is done twice a month. First collection phase is done during the first five days of the month while the second phase is on the 15th to 17th day of the month.

PURCHASING POWER PESO – it is a measure of how much the peso in the base period is worth in another period. It gives as indication of the real value in a given period relative to the peso value in the base period.

RETAIL PRICE - refers to the actual price at which retailers sell a commodity on spot or earliest delivery, usually in small quantities for consumption and not for resale.  It is confined to transactions on cash basis in the free market and excludes black-market prices and prices of commodities that are on sale as in summer sales, anniversary sales, Christmas sales, etc.

WEIGHTS - The weights for the 2018-based CPI were derived from the expenditure data of the 2018 Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES). The weight for each item of expenditure is a proportion of that expenditure item to the total national expenditure. The total (all items) national expenditure weights is equal to 100.

SGD. SHERYL ANN A. JAMISOLA
Chief Statistical Specialist