Samar Province’s inflation rate inches up to 6.3 percent in June 2022

Inflation rate in Samar Province inched up from 5.9 percent in May to 6.3 percent in June 2022. This represents a 3-percentage points decline from its level (9.3%) in the same month last year (Figure 1). Moreover, the province posted a 5.3 percent year-to-date inlation. (Table 1)

The increase in prices in the following Commodity Groups brought about the accelerated growth in this month’s inflation rate: Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages from 5.0 percent in May to 5.4 percent in June; Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and other Fuels from 10.7 percent in May to 11.1 percent in June; and Transport from 14.6 percent in May to 15.8 percent in June.

Other commodity groups which posted increases from May to June included: Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco (13.3%); Personal Care, and Miscellaneous Goods and Services (2.0%); Furnishings, Household Equipment and Routine Household Maintenance (0.7%); Recreation, Sport, and Culture (0.4%); and, Clothing and Footwear (0.1%) (Figure 2).

Meanwhile, five commodity groups showed steady growths in inflation rate from May to June, namely: Health with 0.9 percent; Restaurants and Accommodation Services with 0.6 percent; Information and Communication with 0.1 percent; and, Education Services and Financial Services with 0 or no rate change for the months in reference (Figure 2).

Samar ranks fourth highest inflation rate in Eastern Visayas

Among the six provinces in the region, Southern Leyte recorded the highest inflation rate in June at 8.2 percent, followed by Northern Samar with 7.5 percent. Samar Province generated the fourth highest with 6.3 percent. Eastern Samar posted the lowest inflation rate at 5.9 percent and Tacloban City recorded an inflation of 5.8 percent (Figure 3).

Purchasing power of peso maintains at 0.84 in June

Samar Province’s purchasing power of peso was maintained at 0.84 for June 2022 implying that the price of the same market basket of goods and services valued at Php 100.00 in 2018 are worth Php 84.00 in the same reference month (Figure 4).

Samar’s June 2022 CPI for All Items slightly increases to 118.6

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for All Items in the province slightly increased form 118.4 in May to 118.6 in June, generating a difference of 0.2 percentage points. The same CPI is 7 points higher than the 111.6 index recorded in the same month of the previous year and is also the highest index for the first half of 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