Table A. Year-on-Year Inflation Rates, All Items In Percent (2018=100)

The Inflation Rate (IR) of Northern Samar increase to 7.3 percent in March 2023. This IR is 0.5 percentage points higher compared with the 6.8 IR a month ago, and 0.7 percentage points higher than the recorded 6.6 inflation in the same period last year. The province IR is 1.4 percentage points higher than the Regional IR of 5.9 percent. 

Three (3) out of seven (7) provinces, including one (1) HUC, in Eastern Visayas posted higher IR compared with their figures a month ago, while the four (4) provinces have a lower IR. 

Out of thirteen (13) commodity groups in the province, two (2) commodity groups registered higher IRs while nine (9) commodity group registered a lower IR during the month in comparison with their rates a month ago. Whereas two (2) commodity groups retained its IR. The IRs resulted to a 0.5 percentage point increase in the overall IR of the province for the month of March 2023.

     The increase in the province inflation was mainly brought about by a higher annual increment in the Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages division which has an 64.9 percent contribution to inflation by division and a 91.3 percent share to inflation trend, with its current inflation rate of 9.4 from a 6.5 last months’ IR. 

     This can be traced due to the significant increases in the following:

     a. Cereals, 8.2 percent; 

     b. Cane and beet sugar, 81.6 percent; 

     c. Other vegetables, fresh or chilled, 51.9 percent; 

     d. Fish, live, fresh, chilled or frozen, 9.7 percent;

     e. Meat, fresh, chilled or frozen, 7.3 percent; 

     f. Eggs, 26.9 percent; 

     g. Bread and bakery products, 10.1 percent, and

     h. Fruit-bearing vegetables, fresh or chilled, 20.5 percent.

    It can be observed that the commodity group of Cereals; Fish, live, fresh, chilled or frozen and Fruit-bearing vegetables, fresh or chilled has a 54.9, 10.6 and 10.0 percent share to uptrend, respectively.

     Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco commodity group registered an increase in IR from 5.3 percent in February to 11.0 percent in March 2023, that is, a 5.7 percentage point increase. This division has a 3.7 percent contribution to inflation by division and 8.7 percent share to inflation trend.

   This can be traced in the increase in Alcoholic Beverages registering a 3.3 percentage point increase from 6.4 to 9.7 IR for the current month, and Tobacco with a 10.1 percentage point increase from 3.5 to 13.5 IR.

Meanwhile, a decrease in the f o l l o w i n g divisions can also be observed:

     a. Clothing and Footwear, (0.2) percent;

    b. Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels, 12.4 percent;   

    c. Furnishing Household equipment and routine maintenance of the house, 2.2 percent;

    d. Health, (2.2) percent; 

    e. Transport, (5.9) percent;

     f. Information & Communication, 3.2 percent;

    g. Recreation, Sport and Culture, 2.7 percent;

    h. Restaurant and Accommodation Services, 4.4 percent; and

     i. Personal Care, and Miscellaneous Goods and Services, 1.1 percent.

Education and Financial Services commodity groups retained their previous month’s inflation rates.

Note: CPIs and inflation rates by province and selected city are posted at the PSA website (https://openstat.psa.gov.ph/).

SGD. JULIAN E. GALLANO 
Registration Officer II 
Chief Statistical Specialist