November Inflation Rate rises to 9.0% in Samar Province

     A 1.2-percentage point gap was shown in Samar’s inflation rate as it rose from 7.8 percent in October to 9.0 percent in November, reaching the highest since the beginning of the year. (Figure 1) Between November 2021 and 2022, a 3.4-percentage point gap was recorded. A provincial year-to-date of 6.2 percent was derived from the average of inflation rates from January to November 2022. (Table 1)

     November’s inflation rate was heavily affected by the increase in Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages from 8.2 percent in October to 10.8 percent in November; Furnishings, Household Equipment and Routine Household Maintenance from 3.6 percent in October to 5.4 percent; and Personal Care, and Miscellanoues Goods and Services’ 3.3 percent in October to 3.8 in November.

     Three commodity groups also contributed to the inflation rate with their increases, namely: Health (1.8%); Recreation, Sport and Culture (1.2%); and, Clothing and Footwear (0.6%). In contrast, three commodity groups showed decreases including, Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels (14.2%); Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco (12.4%); and Transport (4.0%). (Appendix Table 2)

     Zero or no changes in inflation rates were recorded in four commodity groups between October and November, namely: Restaurants and Accommodation Services (3.4%); Education Services (1.3%); Information and Communication (0.1%); and, Financial Services (0.0%). (Figure 2)

Samar generates third highest IR in Eastern Visayas

     Samar Province generated the third highest inflation rate out of the six provinces and one highly-urbanized city (HUC) in Eastern Visayas. Southern Leyte maintained the highest inflation rate with 10.8 percent, followed by Northern Samar with 9.6 percent in the same reference period. Tacloban City, the lone HUC in Region VIII, recorded an inflation rate of 4.7 percent. (Figure 3)

Purchasing Power of Peso for Samar remains at 0.82 in November

     The November Purchasing Power of Peso remained at 0.82 for Samar Province, indicating that the peso has a value of 0.82 centavos in the same reference month of 2022. Amount of peso in the province still shows to be weaker backed up with high inflation rates of goods in November. (Figure 4)

November CPI for All Items in Samar continues increase to 122.3

      For November, a Consumer Price Index (CPI) of 122.3 was recorded showing a continued increase from the 121.7 index recorded in the previous month for Samar. This indicates that a typical household needs about Php 122.3 in order to buy the same basket of goods and services in November 2022. 

     Moreover, a huge gap of 10.1 points is evident from the indices generated between November 2021 and 2022. (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