Release Date :
Reference Number :
202307-0800-20
Eastern Visayas
The Inflation Rate (IR) in Eastern Visayas decelerated further to 3.3 percent in June 2023 from 4.2 percent in May 2023, the lowest since February 2021 (Table 2). The regional IR was lower than the 5.4 percent national IR in June 2023. The region’s average IR from January to June 2023 stood at 5.2 percent. In June 2022, the regional IR was higher at 6.8 percent than the rate during the reference period (Table 1).
Among the 13 commodity groups, the sustained downtrend of the regional IR during the month was mainly brought about by the heavily weighted food and non-alcoholic beverages which recorded a lower IR of 6.0 percent, from 6.9 percent in May 2023. The decrease in the IR for housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuel at 1.0 percent in June 2023 from 2.0 percent in May 2023, also contributed to the downtrend in the overall IR. The third primary driver in the slowdown of the regional IR was transport, which further deflated to -6.4 percent in June 2023, from -4.8 percent IR in May 2023.
In addition, lower IRs were noted in the following commodity groups:
a. Restaurants and accommodation services, 4.3 percent from 6.1 percent;
b. Alcoholic beverages and tobacco, 8.6 percent from 8.9 percent;
c. Furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance, 4.5 percent from 4.6 percent;
d. Clothing and footwear, 1.7 percent from 1.8 percent;
e. Health, 2.6 percent from 2.7 percent;
f. Recreation, sport and culture, 1.8 percent from 2.0 percent; and
g. Information and communication, 0.8 percent from 0.9 percent.
The rest of the commodity groups either retained their previous month’s IRs or had zero percent growths (Table 3). The IR for food index continued to decrease for the third consecutive month at 6.0 percent in June 2023. In the previous month, IR for food was recorded at 6.9 percent, while 7.1 percent in June 2022 (Table 3).
The decreased IR for food index was primarily influenced by the deflation in meat and other parts of slaughtered land animals at -1.4 percent in June 2023, from 2.4 percent IR in May 2023. This was followed by fruits and nuts with an IR of 8.5 percent in June 2023, from its double-digit IR of 15.9 percent in May 2023. Vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas and pulses also contributed to the decreased IR in food index recording 8.4 percent IR in June 2023, from 10.1 percent in the previous month.
Lower IRs were also noted in the following food groups during the month in review:
a. Flour, bread and other bakery products, pasta products, and other cereals, 12.0 percent from 13.4 percent;
b. Sugar, confectionery and desserts, 30.0 percent from 31.9 percent;
c. Ready-made food and other food products not elsewhere classified (n.e.c.), 7.2 percent from 8.4 percent;
d. Oils and fats, 8.3 percent from 11.9 percent; and
e. Corn, 3.6 percent from 4.3 percent.
On the other hand, milk, other dairy products and eggs registered higher double-digit IR at 10.2 percent in June 2023, from 10.0 percent in May 2023. Higher IRs were also noted in rice at 3.4 percent from 3.2 percent, and fish and other seafoods at 7.3 percent from 5.5 percent.
Inflation Rate by Region
All regions registered lower IRs in June 2023, except for MIMAROPA, which retained its previous month’s IR. However, MIMAROPA still posted the highest IR at 7.2 percent in June 2023, followed by Western Visayas and BARMM at 6.8 percent and 6.0 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, Eastern Visayas’ IR at 3.3 percent ranked second lowest IR during the month in review. CAR recorded the lowest IR at 3.2 percent (Figure 2 and Table 4).
Inflation Rate by Province
Relative to their IRs in May 2023, all provinces recorded lower IRs in June 2023, except for Southern Leyte, which posted higher IR during the reference month. Among provinces, Eastern Samar posted the highest IR at 6.5 percent in June 2023. Northern Samar’s IR came next at 3.6 percent, followed by Samar at 3.5 percent; Southern Leyte at 3.1 percent; and Leyte at 3.0 percent. The lowest IR was noted in Biliran at 1.9 percent (Figure 3 and Table 5). Meanwhile, IR for Tacloban City, the lone Highly Urbanized City (HUC) in the region, decelerated further to 1.5 percent in June 2023, from its 2.4 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
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