Inflation rate in Samar Province slowed down further, from 5.4 percent in November to 3.7 percent in December 2021. Meanwhile, a 1.8-percentage points decline was evident between December of 2020 and 2021. (See Figure 1)

     Among the six provinces, Eastern Samar posted the highest inflation rate with 4.4 percent in December 2021. Biliran followed with 4.2 percent. Meanwhile, Southern Leyte posted the lowest IR with 2.2 percent. (See Figure 2)

BY COMMODITY GROUP

     From the eleven (11) commodity groups, three (3) yielded increases in inflation rate namely: Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas, & Other Fuels (1.5%); Furnishings, Household Equipment & Routine Maintenance of the House (0.7%); and, Restaurant & Miscellaneous Goods & Services (0.3%).

     Meanwhile, six (6) commodity groups exhibited decreases in December 2021 compared to the previous month, to wit: Transport (15.2%); Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco (13.3%); Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages (0.9%); Clothing (0.5%); Recreation & Culture (0.3%), and, Health (0.2%).

PURCHASING POWER OF PESO

     Samar'r Purchasing Power of Peso (PPP) remained at 0.69 for December 2021, indicating that a peso in 2012 is only worth 0.69 centavos in the month of reference. Futher, this implies that the prices in the same marker basket of good and services valued at Php 100.00 in 2012 are worth Php 69.00 in December 2021. (See Figure 4)

MONTHLY CONSUMER PRICE INDEX

     A Consumer Price Index (CPI) of 145.8 was recorded for the province in December 2021, depicting an increase of 0.7 points from the 145.1 index generated in the previous month of the same year. Moreover, a relatively higher index by 5.2 points is generated from the index in December compared to the index generated from the same month in 2020.(See Figure 5)

SGD. RIZA N. MORALETA 
Chief Statistical Specialist

TECHNICAL NOTES 

Consumer Price Index (CPI) - An indicator of the changes in the average retail prices of a fixed market basket of goods and services commonly purchased by households relative to a base year. 

Uses of CPI - The CPI is most widely used in the calculation of the inflation rate and purchasing power of peso. It is a major statistical series used for economic analysis and as a monitoring indicator of government economic policy. 

Base Period/Year - The reference date or base period is the benchmark or reference date or period at which the index is taken as equal to 100. The current base period is 2012. Market Basket A sample of goods and services purchased for consumption availed by the households in the country selected to represent the composite price behavior of all goods and services purchased by consumers. 

Weight - 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. Formula The formula used in computing the CPI is the weighted arithmetic mean of price relatives, the Laspeyre's formula with a fixed based year period (2012) weights. 

Geographic Coverage - CPI values are computed at the national, regional, and provincial levels, and for selected cities. 

Inflation Rate - is the rate of change of the CPI expressed in percent. Inflation is interpreted in terms of the declining purchasing power of peso. 

Purchasing Power of Peso - shows how much the peso in the base period is worth in the current period. It is computed as the reciprocal of the CPI for the period under review multiplied by 100.