EASTERN SAMAR

1.    Headline Inflation

Inflation Rate (IR) in Eastern Samar slowed down to 0.4 percent in July 2025 from 1.9 percent in June 2025. This is 0.6 percentage point higher compared to the -0.2 percent IR in Region VIII and 0.5 percentage point lower than the 0.9 percent IR of the Philippines. In July 2024, the inflation rate was 3.3 percent, higher by 2.9 percentage points compared to this month’s rate. (Figure 1, and Tables A and B)

Main Drivers of the Downward Trend of Eastern Samar’s Inflation

The downward trend in the province’s inflation rate in July 2025 was mainly driven by the annual decline of the heavily-weighted food and non-alcoholic beverages at 1.3 percent from a 0.7 percent annual increase in June 2025. Also, the slower annual increment of housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels and restaurants and accommodation services at 3.5 percent and 4.9 percent, respectively from an annual increase of 6.0 percent and 5.5 percent, respectively in the previous month contributed to the downward trend of the province’s inflation. (Table C)

Also, the following commodities registered slower inflation rates in July 2025 compared to that in the previous month:

(a)    Alcoholic beverages and tobacco, 2.7 percent from 3.0 percent;
(b)    Personal care, and miscellaneous goods and services, 1.4 percent from 1.5 percent;
(c)    Recreation, sport and culture, 0.7 percent from 1.0 percent;
(d)    Clothing and footwear, 1.2 percent from 1.3 percent; and
(e)    Furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance, 2.5 percent from 2.6 percent.

Transport recorded a slower annual decline at 0.8 percent compared to its record of 0.9 percent annual drop in the previous month.

Meanwhile, health, information and communication, education services, and financial services maintained their respective previous month’s inflation rates at 1.0 percent, 0.2 percent, 0.0 percent, and 0.0 percent, respectively.

Top Three Main Contributors to Eastern Samar Inflation

The following commodity groups were the top three contributors to the July 2025 inflation of the province of Eastern Samar:

a.    Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels with 135.2 percent share or 0.54 percentage point;
b.    Restaurants and accommodation services with 45.6 percent share or 0.18 percentage point; and 
c.    Furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance with 22.0 percent share or 0.09 percentage point.

2.    Food Inflation

Inflation rate of food in the Province in July 2025 declined to 
1.7 percent from an annual increase of 0.6 percent in the previous month. In July 2024, food inflation was higher at 5.6 percent. (Table D)

Main Drivers of the Downward Trend of Food Inflation

The downward trend of food inflation in July 2025 was primarily due to the year-on-year decrease of fish and other seafood at 0.2 percent from an annual increase of 8.6 percent in June 2025. Also, the faster annual decline of cereals and cereal products at 12.1 percent from annual drop at 10.2 percent and the slower annual increment of vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas and pulses at 12.5 percent from an annual increase at 14.6 percent in the previous month contributed to the downward trend of the province’s food inflation.

Also, the following food groups recorded slower annual inflation rates in July 2025 compared to that in the previous month:

(a)    Fruits and nuts, 2.3 percent from 3.2 percent; 
(b)    Ready-made food and other food products not elsewhere classified, 5.2 percent from 5.8 percent; and
(c)    Sugar, confectionery and desserts, 2.4 percent from 2.7 percent.

Only meat and other parts of slaughtered land animals registered a faster annual increase at 13.8 percent from 12.0 percent.

On the other hand, milk, other dairy products, and eggs and oils and fats maintained their previous month’s record at 3.9 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively.

For this month, the Purchasing Power of Peso (PPP) in Eastern Samar strengthened at 80 centavos. This indicates that the peso in 2018 has a value of 80 centavos in July 2025. (Figure 2)

TECHNICAL NOTES

Consumer Price Index (CPI) - is an indicator of the change in the average retail prices of a fixed basket of goods and services commonly purchased by households relative to a base year. It shows how much on the average, prices of goods and services have increased or decreased from a reference period known as the base year. The current CPI series is 2018-based.

The 2018 FIES expenditure data were used to directly estimate the 2018 CPI weights at the national and regional levels. However, the 2018 FIES estimates for the expenditure data at the provincial level were not directly utilized in estimating the CPI expenditure weights as the data at the provincial/city level may not be reliable with the use of the households' master sample (MS) that was utilized in selecting the 2018 FIES sample households. The MS was drawn using regions as domains in generating estimates in all the household surveys of the PSA starting July 2013. The provincial/city expenditure data were derived using the model-based method in small area estimation procedures using the regional expenditure data as the control total for all the expenditure data within the specific region. Using these estimates, the weight for each item of expenditure is computed as a proportion of that item of expenditure to the total national expenditure. A raking procedure was done to adjust the weights of the provinces so that the provincial weights when added up will equal to the regional weights.

The formula used in computing the CPI is the weighted arithmetic mean of price relatives, a variant of the Laspeyres formula with fixed base year period weights as shown below:

            ∑ [(Pn / P0) * (P0*Q0)]
CPI =               X 100
              ∑(P0*Q0)

where Pn    = current price
P0    = base year price or base price P0 * Q0 = base year weights

Base Period or Base Year - is the period, usually a year, at which the index number is set to 100. It is the reference point of the index number series.

Market Basket - is a term used to refer to a sample of goods and services that are commonly purchased and bought by an average Filipino household.

Inflation Rate (IR) - is defined as the annual rate of change or the year-to-year change in the CPI and is computed as:

(CPI2 – CPI1)
Inflation Rate =     X 100
                CPI1
where CPI2 = is the CPI in the second period CPI1 = is the CPI in the previous period
Purchasing Power of the Peso (PPP) - is a measure of the real value the peso in a given period relative to a chosen reference period. It is computed by getting the reciprocal of the CPI and multiplying the result by 100.

PPP = (1/CPI  (All Items) *100

RONNIE A. BAJADO
Chief Statistical Specialist