Biliran registered an annual headline inflation rate (IR) of 4.4 percent in June 2021. This figure is lower by 1.1 percentage points compared to its IR of 5.5 percent in May 2021. 

     In contrast, it is higher by 5.9 percentage points than its recorded deflation of 1.5 percent in June 2020. Moreover, the provincial IR in June 2021 is higher by 1.1 percentage points than the regional IR (3.3 percent) and by 0.3 percentage points than the national IR (4.1 percent). 

     As shown in Table 1, Biliran recorded the third highest inflation rate in Eastern Visayas region.

     In June 2021, the province reported an IR of 4.4 percent. This refers to the All Items or the provincial market basket which represents the goods and services commonly purchased by the households in Biliran. 

     Five (5) out of the 11 commodity groups of CPI showed sustained IR. These groups are the Clothing and Footwear; Communication; Recreation and Culture; Education; and Restaurants & Miscellaneous Goods and Services. Four (4) groups observed decreased IR which includes Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages; Furnishings, Household Equipment & Routine Maintenance of the House; Health; and Transport. The rest of the groups posted increased IR. 

Of the 11 commodity groups, the Transport group still set the highest IR at a slower rate of 18.1 percent in June 2021 from 20.1 percent in May 2021. This was followed by the Housing, Water, Gas, Electricity & Other Fuels group at 6.2 percent and the Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco group at 5.3 percent. The Recreation and Culture group posted the least with a deflation of 0.4 percent. 

The Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages group reported a decrease of 2.8 percentage points from 4.8 percent in May 2021 to 2.0 percent in June 2021. This resulted from the drop in the IR in most of the items under the group ranging from 0.4 percentage points to 11.1 percentage points. 

Rice, the central commodity of the Filipinos, further recorded a deflation of 2.6 percentage in June 2021. This is lower by 0.9 percentage points from the deflation of 1.7 percent in May 2021. It is also lower by 1.1 percentage points compared to its deflation of 1.5 percent in June 2020. 

The Non-Food category in general posted a lower IR by 0.1 percentage points from 6.1 percent in May 2021 to 6.0 percent in June 2021. This resulted from the decrease in some of the commodity groups under it especially the Transport group. Furthermore, the Transport group have the highest IR at 18.1 percent followed by the Housing, Water, Gas, Electricity & Other Fuels group with an IR of 6.2 percent.

CONSUMER PRICE INDEX

     The Consumer Price Index (CPI) in June 2021 was recorded at 126.1 percent. This implies that the average level of prices of consumer goods and services purchased by households in June 2021 was higher by 26.1 percent compared with the prices in 2012. 

     In addition, the provincial CPI in June 2021 is lower by 4.9 percentage points and 1.9 percentage points than the regional CPI of 131.0 and national CPI of 128.0, respectively. 

     Majority of the commodity groups recorded sustained or increased CPI levels in June 2021. Five (5) groups which include the Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco; Clothing and Footwear; Housing, Water, Gas, Electricity & Other Fuels; Health; and Transport posted increased IR ranging from 0.1 percentage points to 0.6 percentage points. Five (5) groups also recorded sustained IRs which include Furnishings, Household Equipment & Routine Maintenance of the House; Communication; Recreation and Culture; Education; and Restaurants & Miscellaneous Goods and Services. Only the Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages group posted decreasing IR. 

     By commodity group, the Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco group still posted the highest CPI with an increased level at 226.7. This was followed by the Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages group at 132.5 and the Furnishings, Household Equipment & Routine Maintenance of the House at 131.4. In contrast, the Education group recorded the least CPI at a sustained level of 64.9. 

In general, the CPI of the Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages group declined by 3.0 percentage points, from 135.5 to 132.5. This can be attributed to the decrease in some items most especially the Fish. 

In addition, the Alcoholic Beverages under the aforementioned group recorded the highest CPI at an increased level of 237.5, followed by Tobacco which also recorded a sustained CPI level at 214.0. The Oils and Fats, on the other hand, still recorded the least CPI at 106.1.

     On the other hand, the Non-Food category reported sustained CPI level at 120.0. Under this category, the Furnishings, Household Equipment & Routine Maintenance of the House set the highest CPI at 131.4 while the Education group remained to have the least CPI at 64.9. In addition, most groups under this category observed sustained CPI levels.

PURCHASING POWER OF PESO

      The price changes reflected in the CPI caused the value of the national currency in Biliran to have a value of 0.79.

The Purchasing Power of Peso (PPP) of 0.79 means that our peso, as of June 2021, significantly lost its value and had been eroded by almost 21 centavos over a period. This means that you need P126.58 this 2021 to be able to buy the same amount of goods and services valued at P100 in 2012 which is the base year.

The province’s PPP is higher than the regional peso and is second from the highest in the region after Leyte (Table 1).

TECHNICAL NOTES

      The current CPI series is 2012-based. The five steps involved in the rebasing/computing of the CPI are as follows: (1) identification of the base year (2) determination of the market basket (3) determination of household consumption patterns (4) monitoring of prices of items in the basket and (5) computation of the CPI. 

REBASING THE CPI - is necessary to ensure that this barometer of economic phenomena is truly reflective of current situation. Consumer taste, fashion and technology change over time causing the fixed market basket of goods and services to become outmoded. To capture such changes for a more meaningful price comparison, revision or updating of the fixed market basket, the sample outlets, the weights and the base year had to be done periodically. 

MARKET BASKET - refers to a sample of goods and services used to represent all goods and services bought by a particular group of consumers in a particular area. WEIGHTS - The weights for the 2006-based CPI were derived from the expenditure data of the 2006 FIES, a nationwide survey that covered around 44,542 sample households. The weight for each item of expenditure is a proportion of that expenditure item to the total national expenditure. The total (all items) national expenditure weights is equal to 100. 

MONITORING OF PRICES - is to establish baseline information for prices of the items in the base year and monitoring of the prices of the items on a regular basis. Except for Food, Beverage and Tobacco which is monitored on a weekly basis in NCR, price collection is done twice a month. 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.

COMPUTING THE CPI - 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. 

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.

SGD. RENAVIL V. CUEVA 
Chief Statistical Specialist