Figure 1. Monthly Inflation Rate Northern Samar:
May 2023 – May 2024

Three (3) out of six (6) provinces in Eastern Visayas posted higher IR compared with their figures a month ago, and two (2) provinces registered a lower inflation while the remaining two (2) province including HUC, retained its IR from the previous month.  

Regional IR retained its 3.6 percent in May 2024. While, Northern Samar recorded the biggest increase at 0.7 percentage points, Eastern Samar with an increase of 0.5 percentage points, and also Biliran at 0.4 percentage points.

Southern Leyte posted a decrease in IR at 0.8 percentage points from a 4.9 IR in April 2024 to 4.1 IR in May 2024. Whereas, Samar also has a decrease in IR of 0.3 percentage points from a 4.1 IR to a 3.8 IR in May 2024.

Meanwhile, Leyte maintained its inflation rate at 3.4 percent in May 2024, including Tacloban City (HUC), which has an IR of 3.2 percent this month.

Figure 2. Inflation Rate by Province,
Region VIII: May and April 2024 
(2018=100)

BY COMMODITY

Out of thirteen (13) commodity groups in the province, four (4) commodity groups posted an increase in IRs while four (4) commodity group registered a lower IR during the month in comparison with their rates a month ago. Whereas, five (5) commodity groups retained its IR. The IRs resulted to a 0.7 percentage point decrease in the overall IR of the province for the month of May 2024.  

The increase in the province inflation was mainly brought about by a lower annual increment in the food & non-alcoholic beverages division that has a 66.4 percent share to the trend of May 2024 inflation for all items and 95.3 percent contribution to inflation for all items, with a current IR of 5.6 from a 4.6 IR in April 2024.

The food sub-group has registered an increase of 1.1 percentage points from 4.8 IR to 5.9 IR for the month of May 2024. This group represents a 66.4 percent contribution to the trend of May inflation for all items.

This can be traced to the increase in the cereals and cereal product group from a 12.3 IR to a 14.9 IR. Rice has registered an increase from 15.8 IR in April 2024 to a 19.2 IR for the month of May 2024. This represents a 41.1 percent contribution to the trend of inflation for all items and 83.8 percent contribution to May 2024 inflation for all items. 

Figure 3. Inflation Rate by Commodity Group,
Northern Samar: May and April 2024 
(2018=100)

Flour, Bread and Other Bakery Products, Pasta Products, and Other Cereals retained its IR of 2.4 this month.

While, Fish and other seafood posted a decrease of 1.9 percentage points with its current IR of 1.5 from a 3.4 IR. This corresponds to a 2.9 percent contribution to May 2024 inflation for all items. 

Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels has increased in IR for the month of May 2024. This can be traced in the increase of electricity with a 25.3 percent contribution to May 2024 inflation for all items. 

Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco commodity group registered a decrease in IR from 1.8 percent in April 2024 to 1.6 percent in May 2024. That is, a 0.2 percentage point decrease, with a 1.3 percent contribution to May 2024 inflation for all items.

The following commodities also posted a decrease in IR, specifically:
a.    Furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance (0.1) percentage point;
b.    Transport (0.4) percentage points; and
c.    Personal Care, and Miscellaneous Goods and Services 
       (0.1) percentage point.

The Recreation, sports and culture division registered a slight increase in IR from -0.3 in April 2024 to 0.0 for the current month.

Additionally, the following commodities retained their inflation rates from the previous month:
a.    Health at 0.2 IR;
b.    Information and Communication at 0.0 IR;
c.    Education Services at 4.1 IR;
d.    Restaurants and Accommodation Services at 0.0 IR; and
e.    Financial Services at 0.0 IR.
 

PURCHASING POWER OF PESO

Figure 4. Purchasing Power of Peso,
Northern Samar: May 2023, April and May 2024
2018=100

The Purchasing Power of Peso (PPP) in the province retained at P0.81 for May 2024. This PPP indicates that P100.00 in 2018 is only worth P81.00 in May 2024.

The PPP of the same month a year ago was P 0.02 higher at P 0.83 than this month’s PPP of P0.81.

Northern Samar’s PPP is the same as that of the Regional PPP of   P 0.81. It ranked third among the provinces in Eastern Visayas with the lower PPP, tied with Leyte.

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.

CONSUMER PRICE INDEX – is an indicator of the changes in the average retail price of a fixed market basket of goods and services commonly purchased by households relative to a base year.

USES OF CPI- it 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.

COMPUTATION OF CPI- the computation of the CPI involves consideration of the following important points:

A. 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.

B. 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.

C. WEIGHTING SYSTEM- uses the expenditures on various consumer items purchased by households as a proportion to total expenditures.

D. 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.

E. GEOGRAPHIC COVERAGE- CPI values are computed at the national, regional, and provincial levels, and for selected cities.

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.

INFLATION RATE – refers to the rate of change of the CPI expressed in percent. Inflation is interpreted in terms of declining purchasing power of peso.

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. 

(SGD.) MARIA THERESA G. ELIZALDE
(Supervising Statistical Specialist)
Officer-in-Charge