The Inflation Rate (IR) of Northern Samar has decreased to 2.0 percent in April 2024. This IR is 0.5 percentage points lower compared with the 2.5 IR a month ago and 4.4 percentage points lower than the recorded 6.4 inflation in the same period last year. The province’s IR is 1.6 percentage points lower than the Regional IR of 3.6 percent.                     

    Figure 1. Monthly Inflation Rate Northern Samar:
April 2023 – April 2024
(2018=100)

Three (3) out of six (6) provinces and one (1) HUC, in Eastern Visayas posted lower IR compared with their figures a month ago, while the remaining three (3) provinces and HUC, has a higher IR.

The Regional IR registered an increase of 0.2 percentage points from 3.4 percent in March to 3.6 percent in April 2024. 

Figure 2. Inflation Rate by Province
Region VIII: April and March 2024 
(2018=100)

Eastern Samar and Southern Leyte both posted a significant inflation rate increase of 1.4 percentage points. While, Northern Samar recorded the biggest decrease in inflation rate of 0.5 percentage points. 

BY COMMODITY

Out of thirteen (13) commodity groups in the province, three (3) commodity groups registered lower IRs while four (4) commodity groups registered a higher IR during the month in comparison with their rates a month ago. Whereas, six (6) commodity groups retained its IR. The IRs resulted to a 0.5 percentage point decrease in the overall IR of the province for the month of April 2024.  

The decrease in the province’s inflation was mainly brought about by a lower annual increment in the food & non-alcoholic beverages division that has a 97.5 percent share to the trend of April 2024 inflation for all items and 103.2 percent contribution to inflation for all items, with a current IR of 4.6 from a 5.9 IR in March 2024.
The food sub-group has registered a decrease of 1.5 percentage points from 6.3 IR to 4.8 IR for the month. This group represents a 97.5 percent contribution to the trend of April 2024 inflation for all items.

Figure 3. Inflation Rate by Commodity Group,
Northern Samar: April and March 2024 
(2018=100)

This can be traced to the decrease in the cereals and cereal product group from a 16.5 IR to a 12.3 IR. Rice has a significant decrease from 21.4 IR in March 2024 to a 15.8 IR for the month of April 2024. This represents a 79.3 percent contribution to the trend of inflation for all items and 91.1 percent contribution to April 2024 inflation for all items.

Flour, Bread and Other Bakery Products, Pasta Products, and Other Cereals also exhibit a decrease of 0.1 percentage point with its current IR of 2.4 from a 2.5 IR in March 2024.

Fish and other seafood also declined by 0.9 percentage points with its current IR of 3.4 from a 4.3 IR. This corresponds to a  5.6 percent contribution to the trend of April 2024 inflation for all items.

Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels have decreased in IR for the month of April 2024. This can be traced in the decrease of electricity with a 45.2 percent contribution to April 2024 inflation for all items. 

Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco commodity group registered an increase in IR from 0.8 percent in March 2024 to 1.8 percent in April 2024. That is, a one (1) percentage point increase, with a 2 percent contribution to this month’s inflation for all items.

The Health division also posted a slight decrease in IR from 0.3 to 0.2 for the current month. This marks a 0.2 percent contribution to inflation.

An increase in the following divisions can also be observed:
    a. Clothing and footwear, (0.2) percentage points; and
    b. Transport, (0.3) percentage points

Whereas, the following groups retained the previous month’s inflation rates:
    a. Furnishings, household equipment and routine household 
        maintenance of the house at 12.9 percent;
    b. Information and communication at 0.0 percent;
    c. Recreation, sport and culture at (-0.3); 
    d. Education services at 4.1 percent; 
    e. Restaurants and accommodation services at 0.0 percent; and
    f. Financial services at 0.0 percent

                                                             PURCHASING POWER OF PESO

Figure 4. Purchasing Power of Peso,
Northern Samar: April 2023, March and April 2024
2018=100

The Purchasing Power of Peso (PPP) in the province registered an increase at P0.81 for April 2024. This PPP indicates that P100.00 in 2018 is only worth P81.00 in April 2024.

The PPP of the same month a year ago was  P 0.01  higher at P 0.82  than this month’s PPP of P0.81

Northern Samar’s PPP is the same as that of the Regional PPP of P 0.81. It ranked third among the provinces in Eastern Visayas with the weakest PPP, tied with Leyte an Southern Leyte, also at P 0.81. 

TABLE 2. Consumer Price Index by Subgroup, Month-on-Month and Year-on-Year Percent Changes in Northern Samar
(2018=100)

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.

CONSUMER PRICE INDEX – is an indicator of the changes in the average retail price of a fixed market basket of goods and services commonly purchased by households relative to a base year.
USES OF CPI- it 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.

COMPUTATION OF CPI- the computation of the CPI involves consideration of the following important points:

A. 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.

B. 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.

C. WEIGHTING SYSTEM- uses the expenditures on various consumer items purchased by households as a proportion to total expenditures.

D. FORMULA- the formula used in computing the CPI is the weighted arithmetic mean of price relatives, the Laspeyre’s formula with a fixed base year period (2018) weights.

E. GEOGRAPHIC COVERAGE- CPI values are computed at the national, regional, and provincial levels, and for selected cities.

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.

INFLATION RATE – refers to the rate of change of the CPI expressed in percent. Inflation is interpreted in terms of declining purchasing power of peso.

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.

(SGD.) MARIA THERESA G. ELIZALDE
(Supervising Statistical Specialist)
Officer-in-Charge