Eastern Visayas

The Inflation Rate (IR) for the bottom 30% income households in Eastern Visayas declined to 1.5 percent in December 2024 from 2.6 percent in November 2024. This is the lowest IR for this income group since the 0.9 percent IR recorded in June 2020. This brings the average inflation rate from January to December 2024 for this income group to 4.1 percent. Moreover, the regional IR for this income group was lower than the 2.5 percent national IR in December 2024. The region’s IR in December 2023 was higher at 5.6 percent (Tables 1 and 2).

Main Drivers of the Downtrend of the Regional Inflation

The downtrend of the regional inflation for the bottom 30% income households in December 2024 was primarily brought about by the lower IR in the heavily weighted food and non-alcoholic beverages commodity group registered at 1.7 percent from 3.4 percent in November 2024. The slower IR of housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuel commodity group, which registered zero percent IR in December 2024 from 2.0 percent in November 2024, also contributed to the downtrend.

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

a. Restaurants and accommodation services,1.1 percent from 1.4 percent;  
b. Personal care and miscellaneous goods and services, 1.6 percent from 1.8 percent;  
c. Heath, 1.5 percent from 1.7 percent; and  
d. Recreation, sport and culture, 2.7 percent from 2.8 percent.

On the other hand, compared with their IRs in November 2024, higher IRs were observed in the commodity groups of alcoholic beverages and tobacco, and information and communication at 2.8 percent and 0.3 percent in December 2024, from 2.3 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively.

In addition, faster price increase was recorded in the transport commodity group at 1.0 percent in December 2024 from 1.3 percent annual price decrease in the previous month.

The commodity groups of clothing and footwear; furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance; and education services retained their previous month’s IRs at 0.8 percent, 1.4 percent, and 12.7 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, financial services maintained its 0.1 percent annual price decrease recorded in November 2024.

Main Contributors to the Regional Inflation

The top three commodity groups that contributed to the December 2024 regional IR were the following:  
a. Food and non-alcoholic beverages with 71.5 percent share or 1.1 percentage points;  
b. Personal care, and miscellaneous goods and services with 5.3 percent share or 0.1 percentage point; and  
c. Alcoholic beverages and tobacco with 5.2 percent share or 0.1 percentage point.

Food Inflation

Food inflation for the bottom 30% income households in Eastern Visayas declined to 1.7 percent in December 2024 from 3.5 percent in November 2024. In December 2023, food inflation was posted at 9.8 percent (Table 3).

The decline of food IR was primarily brought about by the slower IR observed in rice at 0.3 percent in December 2024 from 6.9 percent in November 2024. Fruits and nuts, which registered lower IR at 4.3 percent in December 2024 from 10.0 percent in November 2024, also contributed to the downtrend.

In addition, the following commodity groups registered lower IRs in December 2024:

a. Milk, other dairy products and eggs, 1.7 percent from 2.1 percent;  
b. Corn, 0.4 percent from 2.2 percent; and  
c. Flour, bread, and other bakery products, pasta products, and other cereals, 1.6 percent from 1.9 percent.

In contrast, compared with their previous month’s IRs, higher IRs were observed in the following food groups:

a. Meat and other parts of slaughtered land animals, 2.2 percent from 1.4 percent;  
b. Fish and other seafood, 3.9 percent from 0.6 percent;  
c. Vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas and pulses, 2.9 percent from 0.2 percent; and  
d. Ready-made food and other food products not elsewhere classified, 5.4 percent from 5.2 percent.

Moreover, slower price decreases were observed in oils and fats and sugar, confectionery and desserts at 0.5 percent and 2.4 percent in December 2024 from their annual price decrease of 1.0 percent and 4.0 percent in November 2024, respectively.

Main Contributors to the Food Inflation

Food inflation shared 66.3 percent or 1.0 percentage point to the regional inflation for the bottom 30% income household in December 2024. The food groups with the highest contribution to the food inflation during the month were the following:

a. Fish and other seafood, with 37.3 percent share or 0.63 percentage point;  
b. Cereals and cereal products, which includes rice, corn, flour, bread and other bakery products, pasta products, and other cereals, with 15.1 percent share or 0.26 percentage point;  
c. Meat and other parts of slaughtered land animals, with 14.5 percent share or 0.25 percentage point.

Inflation Rate by Region

In comparison with their IRs in November 2024, 10 (ten) regions registered lower IRs for the bottom 30% income households in December 2024, six (6) recorded higher IRs while the remaining one (1) retained its previous month’s IR. Eastern Visayas’ IR for the bottom 30% income household at 1.5 percent ranked fifth among the regions with low IRs during the month in review. In December 2024, the highest IR for this income group was recorded in Cagayan Valley at 4.8 percent, while the lowest IR was observed in SOCCSKSARGEN at 1.0 percent (Figure 2 and Table 4).

Relative to their IRs for the bottom 30% income households in November 2024, the lone Highly Urbanized City (HUC) Tacloban City and all the provinces, except Eastern Samar, recorded lower IRs in December 2024. For this income group, Eastern Samar registered the highest IR among the provinces at 2.6 percent. This was followed by Southern Leyte at 1.8 percent, Northern Samar and Biliran both at 1.7 percent, and Samar at 1.2 percent. The lowest IR for this income group was noted in Leyte at 1.1 percent. Meanwhile, IR for the bottom 30% income households in Tacloban City was recorded at 0.6 percent in December 2024 (Figure 3 and Table 5).

Inflation Rate by Province

Relative to their IRs for the bottom 30% income households in November 2024, the lone Highly Urbanized City (HUC) Tacloban City and all the provinces, except Eastern Samar, recorded lower IRs in December 2024. For this income group, Eastern Samar registered the highest IR among the provinces at 2.6 percent. This was followed by Southern Leyte at 1.8 percent, Northern Samar and Biliran both at 1.7 percent, and Samar at 1.2 percent. The lowest IR for this income group was noted in Leyte at 1.1 percent. Meanwhile, IR for the bottom 30% income households in Tacloban City was recorded at 0.6 percent in December 2024 (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 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