Inflation rate in Eastern Visayas eases to 2.8% in April 2021

By PSA-8
May 20, 2021

TACLOBAN CITY - Inflation Rate (IR) in Eastern Visayas eased to 2.8 percent in April 2021. This IR is 0.1 percentage point lower compared with the 2.9 percent IR in March 2021. This April 2021 IR of the region, however, is 1.0 percentage point higher than the recorded 1.8 percent IR in the same period last year.

In comparison with the national average IR, the regional IR is 1.7 percentage points lower than the 4.5 percent national IR in April 2021.

Among the provinces, only Northern Samar and Leyte registered decreases in IRs. Northern Samar’s IR declined to 0.7 percent in April 2021 from 2.2 percent in March 2021, a reduction by 1.5 percentage points. Leyte’s IR, meanwhile, eased to 1.4 percent in April 2021 from 1.9 percent in March 2021.

Eastern Samar registered the highest increase in IR by 1.6 percentage points. Its IR rose to 4.9 percent in April 2021 from 3.3 percent in March 2021. Biliran grew by 1.3 percentage points, registering 4.9 percent IR during the month in review. Samar and Southern Leyte’s IRs registered increases of 0.2 percentage point to 0.1 percentage point, settling at 6.7 percent and 4.1 percent, respectively. Samar recorded the highest IR among provinces in April 2021 at 6.7 percent, while Northern Samar posted the lowest at 0.7 percent.

Majority of the 11 commodity groups in the region exhibited higher IRs in April 2021 compared with their rates in March 2021. However, these were offset by the lower IRs recorded in four (4) other commodity groups, which resulted to 0.1 percentage point decrease in the overall IR of the region in April 2021.

Transport commodity group registered the biggest increase in IR by 4.0 percentage points. Its 8.9 percent IR in March 2021 grew to a double-digit IR of 12.9 percent in April 2021. This acceleration can be traced to the increased double-digit IR (25.6%) registered in the index for operation of personal transport equipment.

The commodity group for communication which registered a 1.4 percent deflation in March 2021 recorded price increase in April 2021 at 0.6 percent. This increase was brought about by the 2.8 percent IR in the index for telephone and telefax equipment in April 2021, from 23.8 percent deflation in March 2021.

Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels commodity group recorded 2.4 percent IR in April 2021, 1.0 percentage point higher than the 1.4 percent IR in March 2021. This growth can be attributed to the higher IRs in the index for electricity, gas, and other fuels (6.5%) and maintenance and repair of the dwelling (1.8%).

The IR for furnishings, household equipment, and routine maintenance of the house commodity group picked up by 0.7 percentage points, pushing its IR to 3.2 percent in April 2021.

Health commodity group registered 0.5 percentage point increase in its IR, from 1.1 percent in March 2021 to 1.6 percent in April 2021.

Compared with their March 2021 levels, IRs for restaurants and miscellaneous goods and services commodity group (3.6%) and education commodity group (0.5%) were higher by 0.2 percentage point and 0.1 percentage point, respectively, in April 2021.

On the other hand, IR for food and non-alcoholic beverages commodity group declined to 2.0 percent in April 2021 from 3.2 percent in March 2021. Lower IRs were noted in majority of the items under this commodity group. Vegetables index registered the highest decrease of 14.9 percentage points. Its IR dropped to 3.2 percent in April 2021 from its double-digit IR of 18.1 percent in March 2021.

The IR for oils and fats index managed to shed off 4.0 percentage points from its 5.5 percent IR in March 2021, posting 1.5 percent IR in April 2021. The IR for fruits index also declined by 3.5 percentage points, settling at 2.9 percent during the month in review. Bread and cereals index further deflated to 1.5 percent while the rest of the items registered decreases ranging from 0.6 percentage point to 2.3 percentage points. Meanwhile, prices of meat picked up at a faster rate of 9.0 percent in April 2021 from 7.0 percent in March 2021. Faster annual price increases were also noted in indices for sugar, jam, honey, chocolate, and confectionary products (1.6%) and fish (5.3%). Rice continued to register deflation in April 2021 but at a slower rate of 2.2 percent.

The IR for clothing and footwear commodity group declined by 0.8 percentage points, settling at 1.8 percent in April 2021. The IR for the commodity group of alcoholic beverages and tobacco likewise eased by 0.1 percentage point, settling at 6.9 percent in April 2021.

Recreation and culture commodity group further deflated to 1.5 percent in April 2021 from 1.0 percent deflation in March 2021.

The Purchasing Power of Peso (PPP) of the region strengthened to P0.77 in April 2021. This PPP implies that the goods and services worth P77.00 in 2012 is now worth P100.00 in April 2021. Compared to their levels in March 2021, PPP in Leyte strengthened by P0.01, while PPP in Biliran and Eastern Samar weakened by P0.01. The rest of the provinces retained their previous month’s PPP.

Leyte recorded the strongest PPP among provinces in April 2021 at P0.80. Biliran and Southern Leyte ranked second at P0.78, followed by Eastern Samar at P0.73 and Northern Samar at P0.72. Samar posted the weakest PPP during the reference month at P0.70.