Leyte’s inflation rate climbs to 1.5 percent in April 2025

Leyte’s inflation rate rose to 1.5 percent in April 2025, up from 0.8 percent in March 2025. This is lower by 1.9 percentage points from the 3.4 percent inflation rate in the same month last year. Meanwhile, the region’s inflation rate slowed to 0.6 percent in April 2025 from 1.0 percent in March 2025. Among the provinces and the highly urbanized city (HUC) in the region, only Leyte and Tacloban City recorded increases in their respective inflation rates for April 2025.

Main Drivers Contributing to the Upward Trend of Leyte’s Inflation

The following commodity groups emerged as the main drivers to the upward trend in the April 2025 inflation rate of Leyte:

   a. Food and non-alcoholic beverages recorded an inflation rate of 1.3 percent, reversing the deflation of -0.1 percent in the previous month. The faster rate of increase in the prices of fish and other seafood; meat and other parts of slaughtered land animals; and vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas and pulses are the main drivers to the upward trend in this commodity group;

   b. Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels posted an inflation rate of 5.0 percent, up from 4.3 percent in the previous month. This increase was attributed to the faster rate of increase in the prices of actual rentals paid by tenants for main residence and electricity;

   c. Recreation, sport and culture registered an inflation rate of 1.1 percent, up from 1.0 percent in the previous month. This was driven by the faster rate of increase in the prices of recreational and sporting services, as well as stationery and drawing materials, along with price increases in games, toys and hobbies and newspapers and periodicals;

   d. Restaurants and accommodation services posted an inflation rate of 0.2 percent, up from 0.1 percent in the previous month. This was caused by the faster rate of increase in the prices of restaurants, café and the like and accommodation services; and

   e. Personal care, and miscellaneous goods and services recorded an inflation rate of 1.8 percent, up from 1.2 percent in the previous month. This increase was attributed to the faster rate of increase in the prices of other appliances, articles and products for personal care, as well as hairdressing salons and personal grooming establishments, and the increase in the prices of jewelry and watches and other personal effects.

In contrast, the following major commodity groups recorded a decrease in their respective inflation rates in April 2025 compared to the previous month:

   a. Alcoholic beverages and tobacco recorded an inflation rate of 1.3 percent, down from 1.7 percent in the previous month. This was driven by the slower rate of increase in the prices of tobacco;

   b. Furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance registered an inflation rate of 1.4 percent, down from 1.6 percent in the previous month. This decrease was attributed to the slower rate of increase in the prices of motorized tools and equipment and domestic services and household services, as well as the decrease in the prices of major household appliances, whether electric or not;

   c. Health posted an inflation rate of 1.3 percent, down from 1.7 percent in the previous month. This was driven by the slower rate of increase in the prices of medicines; preventive care services; and outpatient dental services. The decrease in the prices of diagnostic imaging services and medical laboratory services also contributed to the lower inflation rate. 

In addition, transport recorded a deflation of -4.0 percent, down from -2.4 percent in the previous month. This was attributed to the faster rate of decrease in the prices of fuels and lubricants for personal transport equipment.

Meanwhile, the following commodity groups maintained their inflation rates from their previous month’s rate:

   a. Education services at 12.6 percent;

   b. Information and communication at 0.1 percent; and

   c. Financial services at zero percent.

Furthermore, clothing and footwear maintained a deflation of -0.2 percent in April 2025.

Top Three Commodity Groups Contributing to the Upward Trend of Leyte’s Inflation

The top three commodity groups contributing to the trend of April 2025 inflation of Leyte were the following:

   a. Food and non-alcoholic beverages with 80.2 percent share;

   b. Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels with 16.0 percent share; and

   c. Personal care, and miscellaneous goods and services with 3.1 percent share.

The inflation rate is the general rise in prices over a period. It indicates how fast or how slow price changes over two-time periods. Contrary to common knowledge, low inflation does not necessarily connote that prices are falling instead; it means that prices continue to increase at a slower rate.  It is a derived indicator of the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

The CPI is a measure of change in the average retail prices of goods and services commonly purchased by a particular group of people in a specific area.  The overall CPI in Leyte for April 2025 was 125.1. This implies that the average retail price of goods and services in Leyte is 25.1 percent higher than the average retail prices in 2018 (base year).

Purchasing Power of Peso (PPP) retained at 80 centavos in April 2025

The Purchasing Power of Peso (PPP) in Leyte remained at 80 centavos in April 2025. Likewise, the PPP in the region maintained at 80 centavos in April 2025. The 80 centavos purchasing power of peso in Leyte indicates that the same basket of goods and services worth 80 pesos in 2018 (base year) is worth 100 pesos during the reference period.

TECHNICAL NOTES

Rebasing of 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.

BASE PERIOD – refers to the reference period of the index number. It is a period at which the index is set to 100. Current base period is 2018.

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.

CONSUMER PRICE INDEX – is a measure of change in the average retail prices of goods and services commonly purchased by a particular group of people in a particular area.

INFLATION RATE – refers to the annual rate of change or year-on-year change in CPI.

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.

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.

PURCHASING POWER PESO – it is a measure of how much the peso in the base period is worth in another period. It gives as indication of the real value in a given period relative to the peso value in the base period.

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.

WEIGHTS - 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 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.

SGD. SHERYL ANN A. JAMISOLA
Chief Statistical Specialist