Eastern Visayas

The Inflation Rate (IR) in Eastern Visayas increased to 4.3 percent in December 2023 after two (2) consecutive months of deceleration. This brings the region’s average IR from January to December 2023 at 4.4 percent. The regional IR was higher than the 3.9 percent national IR in December 2023. In December 2022, the regional IR was higher at 7.8 percent (Table 1).

The uptrend in the regional IR in December 2023 was primarily brought about by the slower annual decrease in the index of housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels at 2.6 percent in December 2023 from an annual decrease of 4.5 percent in the previous month. Higher IR in the heavily weighted food and non-alcoholic beverages at 8.3 percent during the month from 7.7 percent in November 2023 also contributed to the upward trend. In addition, the index for transport exhibited slower annual declineat 1.3 percent, from 2.2 percent annual decline in November 2023.

Moreover, increased IRs were also recorded in the following commodity groups during 
the month:
a. Furnishings, household equipment, and routine household maintenance, 6.3 percent from 5.9 percent; and 
b. Health, 3.2 percent from 3.0 percent

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

a. Alcoholic beverages and tobacco, 7.8 percent from 7.9 percent;
b. Clothing and footwear, 0.9 percent from 1.2 percent; 
c. Information and communication, 0.3 percent from 0.4 percent;
d. Restaurants and accommodation services, 5.3 percent from 5.5 percent; and
e. Personal care and miscellaneous goods and services, 3.4 percent from 3.5 percent

The indices for education services and recreation, sport, and culture retained their previous month’s IRs at 1.4 percent and 2.3 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, financial services index remained at zero percent annual growth during the month (Table 3).

The IR for food index increased to 8.7 percent in December 2023, from 8.0 percent in November 2023. The IR for food in December 2022 was higher at 9.2 percent (Table 3).

The increase of the IR for food in December 2023 was primarily influenced by the faster IR for rice at 20.5 percent during the month from 15.0 percent in November 2023. This was followed by fruits and nuts with an IR of 18.1 percent during the month from 12.8 percent IR in November 2023. Higher IRs were also noted in milk, other dairy products, and eggs and corn in December 2023 at 8.7 percent and 2.7 percent, from 7.9 percent and 2.2 percent, respectively, in November 2023. 

In addition, meat and other parts of slaughtered land animals index recorded slower annual decline at 0.7 percent in December 2023 from an annual decrease of 0.8 percent in the previous month.

Meanwhile, compared with their previous month’s IRs, lower IRs were observed in the 
following indices:

a. Flour, bread and other bakery products, pasta products, and other cereals, 5.7 percent from 6.0 percent;
b. Fish and other seafood, 5.5 percent from 7.9 percent;
c. Oils and Fats, 0.9 percent from 1.7 percent;
d. Vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas, and pulses, 0.7 percent from 7.7 percent; 
e. Sugar, confectionery, and desserts, 0.7 percent from 2.7 percent; and
f. Ready-made food and other food products not elsewhere classified, 4.4 percent from 4.8 percent.

Inflation Rate by Region

Compared with their respective IRs in November 2023, nine (9) regions recorded lower inflation rates in December 2023, seven (7) regions had higher inflation rates, while the remaining one (1) region moved the same as in the previous month. Among the regions, Eastern Visayas’ IR at 4.3 percent ranked seventh among the regions with high IRs during the month in review. BARMM recorded the highest IR at 6.2 percent, while Cagayan Valley registered the lowest IR at 1.6 percent (Figure 2 and Table 4).

Inflation Rate by Province

Relative to their IRs in November 2023, four (4) provinces recorded higher IRs in December 2023, Eastern Samar registered lower IR, while Southern Leyte retained its previous month’s IR. Among the provinces, Samar posted the highest IR at 6.6 percent in December 2023. Eastern Samar’s IR came next at 5.2 percent, followed by Leyte at 4.1 percent; Biliran at 4.0 percent; and Northern Samar at 3.3 percent. The lowest IR was noted in Southern Leyte at 2.4 percent (Figure 3 and Table 5).

Meanwhile, IR for Tacloban City, the lone Highly Urbanized City (HUC) in the region, was recorded at 3.6 percent in December 2023, higher than its 2.5 percent IR last month (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 black-market 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