Inflation rate in EV increases to 2.8% in February 2021

By PSA-8
March 21, 2021

TACLOBAN CITY – Inflation Rate (IR) in Eastern Visayas increased to 2.8 percent in February 2021. This IR is 1.1 percentage points higher compared with the 1.7 percent IR in January 2021. This is also 0.9 percentage point higher than the recorded 1.9 percent IR in the same period last year.

In comparison with the national average IR, the regional IR is 1.9 percentage points lower than the 4.7 percent national IR in February 2021.

All provinces registered higher IRs in February 2021 compared with their figures in January 2021, except for Northern Samar, which recorded a 0.6 percentage point decrease from its inflation rate a month ago. Its IR eased down to 2.7 percent in February 2021 from 3.3 percent in January 2021. Meanwhile, Biliran recorded the highest growth of 2.7 percentage points from its zero IR in January 2021. The rest of the provinces registered increases ranging from 0.3 percentage point to 1.6 percentage points. Samar posted the highest IR at 6.1 percent, while Leyte recorded the lowest IR during the month in review at 1.9 percent.

Majority of the commodity groups in the region exhibited higher IRs in February 2021 compared with their rates in January 2021. Food and non-alcoholic beverages commodity group and housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels commodity group both registered the biggest increase in IR at 1.6 percentage points. IR for food and non-alcoholic beverages commodity group rose to 3.5 percent in February 2021 from 1.9 percent in January 2021. Contributing largely to this increase is the fish index which registered a 4.8 percentage points increase in IR, from 0.3 percent in January 2021 to 5.1 percent in February 2021.

Vegetables index continued to register double digit IR in February 2021 at 19.6 percent, 3.7 percentage points higher than its 15.9 percent IR a month ago. Prices of meat picked up by 5.3 percent in February 2021 from 3.1 percent in January 2021. Corn, rice, and bread and cereals indices continued to register deflations but at slower rates of 2.7 percent, 2.1 percent, and 1.2 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, IR for fruits index managed to shed off by 0.8 percentage point from its double-digit figure of 12.0 percent in January 2021, posting 11.2 percent IR in February 2021. Decreased IRs were also registered in the indices for food products not elsewhere classified (6.7%); oils and fats (5.5%); milk, cheese and eggs (2.8 percent); non-alcoholic beverages (2.4%); and sugar, jam, honey, chocolate and confectionery (0.7%).

Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels commodity group which registered 1.4 percent deflation in January 2021 recorded price increase in February 2021 at 0.2 percent. The 0.7 percent deflation in the index for electricity, gas, and other fuels was offset by the IRs in the indices for maintenance and repair of the dwelling (1.6%); actual rentals of housing (0.6%); and water supply and miscellaneous services relating to the dwelling (0.3%).

IR for transport commodity group increased by 0.6 percentage point, from 5.6 percent in January 2021 to 6.2 percent in February 2021. This can be attributed to the higher IR (1.7%) posted in the index for operations of personal transport equipment.

Compared with their January 2021 levels, the IRs for furnishings, household equipment and routine maintenance of the house commodity group (2.5%) and health (1.2%) commodity group both inched up by 0.1 percentage point in February 2021.

Recreation and culture commodity group continued to post deflation but at a slower rate, settling at 1.0 percent during the month in review.

On the other hand, alcoholic beverages and tobacco commodity group recorded 0.5 percentage point decrease in its IR, from 7.4 percent in January 2021 to 6.9 percent in February 2021. This can be traced to the lower IR in the indices for both alcoholic beverages (3.5%) and tobacco (8.9%).

IR for restaurant and miscellaneous goods and services commodity group eased by 0.2 percentage points, settling at 3.9 percent in February 2021.

The commodity groups of clothing and footwear and education retained their previous month’s IRs at 2.5 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, communication commodity group retained its previous month’s deflation at 1.5 percent.

The Purchasing Power of Peso (PPP) of the region remained at P0.77 in February 2021. This PPP implies that the goods and services worth P77.00 in 2012 is worth P100.00 in February 2021.

Compared to their levels in January 2021, PPP in Biliran weakened by P0.02, while PPP in Leyte, Southern Leyte, Eastern Samar, and Northern Samar declined by P0.01 in February 2021. Samar, meanwhile, retained its previous month’s PPP. Biliran and Leyte recorded the strongest PPP among provinces in February 2021 at P0.79. Southern Leyte ranked second at P0.78, followed by Eastern Samar at P0.74 and Northern Samar at P0.71. Samar posted the weakest PPP during the reference month at P0.70.