Tacloban City’s inflation rate declined to 0.2 percent in March 2025

Tacloban City’s inflation rate decreased to 0.2 percent in March 2025 from 1.1 percent in February 2025. In March 2024, the inflation rate was higher at 2.8 percent. Likewise, Leyte recorded a decrease in its inflation rate in March 2025 at 0.8 percent from 1.5 percent in February 2025. Among the provinces and the highly urbanized city (HUC) in the region, only Eastern Samar, Northern Samar, and Biliran recorded increases in their respective inflation rates for March 2025.

Main Drivers Contributing to the Downward Trend of Tacloban City’s Inflation

The following commodity groups emerged as the main drivers to the downward trend in the March 2025 inflation rate of Tacloban City:

   a. Food and non-alcoholic beverages recorded a deflation of -0.2 percent from an inflation of 0.7 percent in the previous month, which was driven by slower rate of increase in the prices of fish and seafood; milk, other dairy products and eggs; and ready-made food and other food products. The faster rate of decrease in the prices of cereals and cereal products; sugar, confectionery and desserts; and water also contributed to the recorded deflation;

   b. Alcoholic beverages and tobacco recorded a 2.5 percent inflation rate from 3.1 percent in the previous month, attributed to the slower rate of increase in the prices of spirits and liquors; tobacco; and non-food commodities;

   c. Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels with 1.5 percent inflation rate from 2.9 percent in the previous month, caused by slower rate of increase in the prices of security equipment and materials for the maintenance and repair of the dwelling, and electricity;

   d. Furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance recorded a zero percent inflation from 0.1 percent in the previous month, due to the slower rate of increase in the prices of household textiles; major household appliances whether electric or not; and non-motorized tools and miscellaneous accessories;

   e. Transport recorded a deflation of -1.6 percent from -0.4 percent in the previous month, which was driven by the faster rate of decrease in the prices of fuels and lubricants for personal transport equipment; and

   f. Personal care, and miscellaneous goods and services recorded an inflation of 0.8 percent from 0.9 percent in the previous month, attributed to the slower rate of increase in the prices of other appliances, articles and products for personal care.

In contrast, the following major commodity groups recorded an increase in their respective inflation rates in March 2025 compared to the previous month:

   a. Health at 0.4 percent from a deflation of -0.2 percent, due to the faster rate of increase in the prices of medical products, and medicines; and

   b. Recreation, sport and culture at 4.4 percent from 4.0 percent, which was driven by the faster rate of increase in the prices of stationery and drawing materials.

Meanwhile, the other five (5) major commodity groups maintained their inflation rates from their previous months’ rate: 

   a. Clothing and footwear at zero percent; 

   b. Information and communication at zero percent; 

   c. Education services at 6.3 percent;    

   d. Restaurants and accommodation services at zero percent; and

   e. Financial services at zero percent.

Top Three Commodities Contributing to the Downward Trend of Tacloban City’s Inflation

The top three commodity groups contributing to the trend of March 2025 inflation of Tacloban City were the following:

   a. Food and non-alcoholic beverages with 41.4 percent share;

   b. Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels with 39.4 percent share; and

   c. Transport with 16.8 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 Tacloban City for March 2025 was 120.4. This implies that the average retail price of goods and services in Tacloban City is 20.4 percent higher than the average retail prices in 2018 (base year).

Purchasing Power of Peso (PPP) retains at 83 centavos in March 2025

The Purchasing Power of Peso (PPP) in Tacloban City retained at 83 centavos in March 2025. Likewise, the PPP in Leyte retained at 80 centavos during the reference month. The 83 centavos purchasing power of peso in Tacloban City indicates that the same basket of goods and services worth 83 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