Eastern Visayas

The Inflation Rate (IR) in Eastern Visayas increased to 3.6 percent in April 2024 after two (2) consecutive months of deceleration. This brings the region’s average IR from January to April 2024 at 3.6 percent. The regional IR was lower than the 3.8 percent national IR in April 2024. In April 2023, the regional IR was higher at 4.7 percent (Table 1).

Main Drivers to the Upward Trend of the Regional Inflation

The uptrend in the regional IR in April 2024 was primarily brought about by the slower annual decline in the index of housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels at 2.9 percent in April 2024 from an annual decrease of 3.2 percent in the previous month. Higher IR in the heavily weighted food and non-alcoholic beverages at 6.6 percent during the month from 6.5 percent in March 2024 also contributed to the upward trend. In addition, the index for health exhibited faster IR at 2.7 percent during the month from 2.1 percent in March 2024.

Increased IRs were also posted in clothing and footwear, and recreation, sport and culture at 0.8 percent and 2.3 percent during the month from 0.5 percent and 2.2 percent, respectively, in March 2024.

In contrast, the following commodity groups registered lower IRs during the month:

a. Alcoholic beverages and tobacco, 6.2 percent from 6.7 percent;  
b. Transport, 1.4 percent from 1.5 percent;  
c. Restaurants and accommodation services, 3.6 percent from 3.8 percent; and  
d. Personal care, and miscellaneous goods and services, 2.8 percent from 2.9 percent

The indices for furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance; information and communication; and education services retained their previous month’s IRs at 4.8 percent, 0.4 percent, and 1.4 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, IR for financial services remained at zero percent during the month (Table 3).

Main Contributors to the Regional Inflation

The top three commodity groups that contributed to the April 2024 regional IR were the following:

a. Food and non – alcoholic beverages with 90.0 percent share or 3.2 percentage points; 
b. Restaurants and accommodation services with 4.9 percent share or 0.18 percentage point; and 
c. Furnishings, household equipment, and routine household maintenance, with 4.9 percent share or 0.17 percentage point.

Food Inflation

The IR for food index increased to 6.8 percent in April 2024, from 6.7 percent in March 2024. The IR for food in April 2023 was higher at 7.5 percent (Table 3).

The increase of the IR for food in April 2024 was primarily influenced by the slower annual price decrease for vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas, and pulses at 5.4 percent during the month from an annual price decrease of 8.0 percent in March 2024. This was followed by fish and other seafood with a slower annual price decline of 1.8 percent during the month from an annual price decline of 2.9 percent in March 2024. Meat and other parts of slaughtered land animals also recorded an annual price decrease but at a slower rate of 1.2 percent in April 2024 from 1.7 percent annual decrease in March 2024.

In addition, corn, and ready-made food and other food products not elsewhere classified registered faster IRs at 5.9 percent, and 3.1 percent during the month from 5.8 percent, and 2.8 percent, respectively, in March 2024.

On the other hand, compared with their previous month’s IRs, lower IRs were observed in the following food groups:

a. Rice, 24.9 percent from 26.3 percent;  
b. Flour, bread and other bakery products, pasta products, and other cereals, 3.3 percent from 3.7 percent;  
c. Milk, other dairy products and eggs, 4.9 percent from 5.1 percent; and  
d. Fruits and nuts, 8.8 percent from 11.3 percent;

Moreover, sugar, confectionery and desserts recorded faster annual price decrease at 1.7 percent in April 2024 from 1.6 percent annual price decrease in March 2024.

Meanwhile, oils and fats retained its annual price decrease in March 2024 at 0.8 percent.

Main Contributors to the Food Inflation

Food inflation shared 87.3 percent or 3.1 percentage points to the overall inflation in April 2024. The food groups with the highest contribution to the food inflation during the month were the following:

a. Cereals and cereal products, which includes rice, corn, flour, bread and other bakery products, pasta products, and other cereals, with 101.2 percent share or 6.88 percentage points;  
b. Milk, other dairy products and eggs, with 4.4 percent share or 0.30 percentage point; and  
c. Fruits and nuts, with 4.2 percent share or 0.29 percentage point.

Inflation Rate by Region

Compared with their respective IRs in March 2024, 13 regions recorded higher IRs in April 2024. Only two (2) regions exhibited lower IRs, while the remaining two (2) regions moved the same as in the previous month. Eastern Visayas’ IR at 3.6 percent ranked fifth among the regions with low IRs during the month in review. BARMM recorded the highest IR at 6.3 percent, while Ilocos Region registered the lowest IR at 2.4 percent (Figure 2 and Table 4).

Inflation Rate by Province

Relative to their IRs in March 2024, the Highly Urbanized City of Tacloban and three (3) provinces, namely, Biliran, Eastern Samar, and Southern Leyte recorded higher IRs in April 2024. On the other hand, Leyte, Northern Samar, and Samar registered lower IRs. Among the provinces, Southern Leyte posted the highest IR at 4.9 percent in April 2024. Biliran’s IR came next at 4.4 percent, followed by Samar at 4.1 percent, Eastern Samar at 3.6 percent, and Leyte at 3.4 percent. The lowest IR was noted in Northern Samar at 2.0 percent. Meanwhile, IR for Tacloban City, was recorded at 3.2 percent in April 2024 (Figure 3 and Table 5).

TECHNICAL NOTES

The current CPI series is 2018-based. The rebasing to 2018 is the 12th base period and 11th rebasing for CPI. The five steps involved in the rebasing/computing of CPI are as follows: (1) identification of the base year (2) determination of the market basket (3) determination of household consumption patterns/weights (4) monitoring of prices of items in the basket and (5) computation of CPI.

The 2018-based CPI series uses the same method of computation as the 2012-based CPI series, which is chained Laspeyres formula.

BASE YEAR - is a period at which the index number is set to 100. It is the reference point of the index number series. The CPI is rebased from 2012 to 2018.

CONSUMER PRICE INDEX (CPI) - is an indicator of the change in the average prices of a fixed basket of goods and services commonly purchased by households relative to a base year.

DEFLATION - is the decline in prices for goods and services that happens when the inflation rate dips below zero percent.

INFLATION RATE (IR) - is the annual rate of change or the year-on-year changes in CPI. It indicates how fast or how slow price changes over two time periods (year-on-year). Contrary to common knowledge, low inflation does not necessarily connote that prices of commodities are falling. It means that prices continue to increase but at a slower rate.

MARKET BASKET - refers to a sample of goods and services commonly purchased by the households. The market basket for CPI was updated using the results of the 2021 Survey of Key Informants (SKI). The commodities included in the 2018-based CPI market basket were the modal commodities which were considered as the most commonly purchased/availed commodities by the households. The commodities in the 2018-based CPI market basket were grouped/classified according to the 2020 Philippine Classification of Individual Consumption According to Purpose (PCOICOP).

MONITORING OF PRICES - involves establishing baseline information for the prices of the items in the base year and monitoring the prices of the items on a regular basis. Data collection for the CPI is done by the provincial office twice a month, except for petroleum products which are monitored on a weekly basis, every Friday. 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 OF PESO (PPP) - gives an indication of the real value of peso (how much it is worth) in a given period relative to its value in the base period. It is computed as the reciprocal of CPI multiplied by 100.

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 underground prices and prices of commodities that are on sale as in summer sales, anniversary sales, Christmas sales, etc.

WEIGHTS - is 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. 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 commodity/group of commodities is the proportion of the expenditure commodity/group of commodities to the total national expenditure. The sum of the weights of the commodity groups at the national level is equal to 100.

(SGD) WILMA A. PERANTE  
Regional Director