Samar’s Inflation Rate slows down to 8.2% in December 2022

     INFLATION RATE in the province of Samar slowed down by 0.8 percentage points, from 9.0 percent in November to 8.2 in December. (Figure 1) This figure is however, higher by 4.2 percentage points than the Inflation Rate posted in the same period last year. This shows an average provincial year-to-date Inflation Rate of 6.4 percent from January to December. (Table 1)

     The decline is largely contributed by decreases of inflation rates in Food and NonAlcoholic Beverages, from 10.8 percent in November to 8.9 in December. A similar drop in inflation rate was also noted in the Transport sector, from 4.0 to 2.8 percent in the periods covered.

     Moreover, five commodity groups also showed zero or no changes in inflation rates for the reference month, namely: Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco (12.4%); Furnishings, Household Equipment and Routine Household Maintenance (5.4%); Education Services (1.3%); Information and Communication (0.1%); and Financial Services (0.0%). (Appendix Table 2)

     In the contrary, six commodity groups exhibited increases from November to December, including: Housing, Water Electricity, Gas and other Fuels (14.7%); Personal Care, and Miscellaneous Goods and Services (4.6%); Restaurants and Accommodation Services (4.2%); Health (2.4%); Recreation, Sport and Culture (1.3%); and, Clothing and Footwear (0.9%). (Figure 2)

Fourth highest IR in Eastern Visayas generated by Samar

     From the six provinces and one highly-urbanized city (HUC) in Eastern Visayas, Samar Province generated the fourth highest inflation rate. Southern Leyte recorded the highest inflation rate with 10.7 percent, followed by both Northern and Eastern Samar with 9.9 percent in the same reference period. The lone HUC in Region VIII, Tacloban City, recorded an inflation rate of 4.8 percent in December. (Figure 3)

Samar’s Purchasing Power of Peso remains at 0.82 in December

     Samar Province’s Purchasing Power of Peso remained at 0.82 until the end of the year, indicating that the price of the same market basket of goods and services valued at Php 100.00 in 2018 are worth Php 82.00 pesos during the month of December. Further, a peso in 2018 is worth Php 0.82 in the reference month and year. (Figure 4)

Samar’s CPI for All Items declines to 122.0 in December

     A 0.3-percentage point decline in Samar Province’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) was recorded from the 122.3 index in November to 122.0 in December – deviating from the consistent increase of indices for the entire year. This indicates that about Php 122.0 is needed in order for a typical household to buy the same basket of goods and services in December 2022.

     Moreover, a difference of 9.2 points is shown from the indices generated between December 2021 and 2022 indicating that goods and services in December of the current year are costly compared to those from the previous year. (Figure 5)

SGD. RIZA N. MORALETA 
Chief Statistical Specialist

TECHNICAL NOTES 

Consumer Price Index (CPI) - An indicator of the changes in the average retail prices of a fixed market basket of goods and services commonly purchased by households relative to a base year. 

Uses of CPI - The CPI is most widely used in the calculation of the inflation rate and purchasing power of peso. It is a major statistical series used for economic analysis and as a monitoring indicator of government economic policy. 

Base Period/Year - The reference date or base period is the benchmark or reference date or period at which the index is taken as equal to 100. The current base period is 2018. 

Market Basket - A sample of goods and services purchased for consumption availed by the households in the country selected to represent the composite price behavior of all goods and services purchased by consumers. 

Weight - A value attached to a commodity or group of commodities to indicate the relative importance of that commodity or group of commodities in the market basket. 

Formula - The formula used in computing the CPI is the weighted arithmetic mean of price relatives, the Laspeyre’s formula with a fixed base year period (2018) weights. 

Geographic Coverage - CPI values are computed at the national, regional, and provincial levels, and for selected cities.

Inflation Rate - is the rate of change of the CPI expressed in percent. Inflation is interpreted in terms of the declining purchasing power of peso. 

Purchasing Power of Peso - shows how much the peso in the base period is worth in the current period. It is computed as the reciprocal of the CPI for the period under review multiplied by 100.

SGD. RIZA N. MORALETA 
Chief Statistical Specialist