Eastern Visayas

The Inflation Rate (IR) for the bottom 30% income households in Eastern Visayas eased down to 0.5 percent in February 2025 from 0.6 percent in January 2025. This brings the regional average IR from January to February 2025 to 0.6 percent. Moreover, the regional IR for this income group was lower than the 1.5 percent national IR recorded in February 2025. The region’s IR for the bottom 30% income households in February 2024 was higher at 5.4 percent (Tables 1 and 2).

Main Drivers of the Downtrend of the Regional Inflation

The main driver to the deceleration of the regional inflation for the bottom 30% income households in February 2025 was the price decrease in the heavily weighted food and non-alcoholic beverages commodity group recorded at 0.2 percent from 1.7 percent IR in January 2025. This was followed by the slower IR registered in the commodity group of personal care, and miscellaneous goods and services at 1.3 percent in February 2025 from 1.7 percent IR in the previous month. The slower IR recorded in the transport commodity group at 0.7 percent during the month from 0.9 percent in January 2025 likewise contributed to the downtrend of the regional IR.

In addition, the following commodity groups recorded lower IRs during the month:

a. Recreation, sport and culture, 2.0 percent from 2.6 percent; 
b. Clothing and footwear, 0.9 percent from 1.0 percent; and 
c. Health. 1.4 percent from 1.5 percent; and

On the other hand, compared with their IRs in January 2025, higher IRs were observed in alcoholic beverages, and tobacco commodity group, and housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels commodity group at 3.8 percent and 1.4 percent in February 2025, from 3.2 percent and 0.7 percent in January 2025, respectively.

Moreover, the following commodity groups retained their previous month’s IRs:

a. Furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance, 1.3 percent; 
b. Information and communication, 0.3 percent; 
c. Education services, 12.7 percent; and 
d. Restaurants and accommodation services, 0.8 percent.

The 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 February 2025 regional IR for the bottom 30% income households were the following:

a. Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels with 45.2 percent share or 0.23 percentage point; 
b. Alcoholic beverages and tobacco with 21.2 percent share or 0.11 percentage point; and 
c. Personal care, and miscellaneous goods and services, 13.0 percent or 0.06 percentage point.

Food Inflation

Food inflation for the bottom 30% income households in Eastern Visayas recorded an annual price decline of 0.3 percent in February 2025 from 0.2 percent IR in January 2025. In February 2024, food inflation for this income group was posted at 9.2 percent (Table 3).

The decline of food IR for the bottom 30% income households was primarily brought about by the faster annual price decrease in rice at 6.7 percent in February 2025, from a 4.4 percent annual price decrease in January 2025. The slower IR of vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas and pulses commodity group at 5.4 percent during the month in review, from 8.2 percent in January 2025 also contributed to the downtrend of the food IR. Ready-made food and other food products not elsewhere classified commodity group also recorded slower IR at 6.1 percent in February 2025, from 6.2 percent in previous month.

In addition, sugar, confectionary and desserts commodity group registered faster annual price decrease at 2.4 percent during the month, from a 2.3 percent annual price decrease in January 2025.

In contrast, higher IRs were observed in the following food groups in February 2025 compared with their IRs in January 2025:

a. Meat and other parts of slaughtered land animals, 3.9 percent from 1.1 percent; 
b. Fish and other seafood, 5.1 percent from 3.8 percent; 
c. Milk, other dairy products and eggs, 2.4 percent from 1.9 percent; and 
d. Fruits and nuts, 4.9 percent from 3.5 percent.

In addition, corn registered an IR of 4.4 percent in February 2025 from an annual price decline of 0.4 percent in the previous month.

Meanwhile, flour, bread, and other bakery products, pasta products, and other cereals maintained its 1.9 percent IR in January 2025. Oils and fats retained its 0.1 percent annual price decrease in the previous month.

Main Contributors to the Food Inflation

Food inflation shared 55.0 percent or 0.26 percentage point to the regional annual price decrease for the bottom 30% income household in February 2025. The food groups with the highest contribution to the food inflation during the month were the following:

a. Rice, with 495.2 percent share or -1.49 percentage point; and 
b. Sugar, confectionery and desserts, with 9.8 percent share or -0.03 percentage point.

Inflation Rate by Region

In comparison with their IRs in January 2025, all of the regions registered lower IRs for the bottom 30% income households in February 2025. In February 2025, the lowest IR for this income group was observed in Davao Region at 1.5 percent annual decrement, while the highest IR was recorded in Cagayan Valley at 3.7 percent (Figure 2 and Table 4).

Inflation Rate by Province

Relative to their IRs for the bottom 30% income households in January 2025, Eastern Samar, Northern Samar, Samar, and Southern Leyte recorded lower IRs in January 2025. On the other and Biliran and Leyte registered higher IRs during the month. For this income group, Southern Leyte registered the highest IR among the provinces both at 1.7 percent. This was followed by Eastern Samar and Leyte both at 1.0 percent, Biliran at 0.7 percent, and Southern Leyte at 0.6 percent. The lowest IR for this income group was noted in Northern Samar and Samar both at an annual decrease of 0.5 percent. Meanwhile, Tacloban City retained its previous month’s IR for the bottom 30% income households at 0.4 percent (Figure 3 and Table 5).

TECHNICAL NOTES

The CPI for the bottom 30% income households is compiled by the PSA to measure the changes of prices of commodities commonly purchased by the families that belong to the bottom 30% income decile. The  
process of price collection and CPI computation is the same as that of the CPI for all income households.

However, there is a separate market basket and weights for the CPI for the bottom 30% income households.

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