LOWER INFLATION. An infographic showing the November 2023 inflation rate in Eastern Visayas. The region recorded a 3.5 percent inflation rate in November 2023, lower than the 4 percent recorded the previous month, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Monday (Dec. 11, 2023). (Photo courtesy of PSA)
TACLOBAN CITY – Eastern Visayas recorded a 3.5 percent inflation rate in November 2023, lower than the 4 percent recorded the previous month, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Monday.
Eastern Visayas’ inflation rate is the fourth lowest among the 17 regions in the country on month-on-month record. The November data brings the region’s average inflation rate at 4 percent this year.
The downtrend of the inflation rate last month was mainly due to the lower inflation on the year-on-year growth rate in food and non-alcoholic beverages at 7.7 percent from 8.5 percent in October 2023.
Also contributed to the decrease was the lower inflation rate in transport, information and communication, alcoholic beverages and tobacco, personal care, and miscellaneous goods and services.
“The decelerated inflation rate of food was primarily influenced by the lower inflation rate for fish and other seafood at 7.9 percent from 11.3 percent in the previous month,” PSA Eastern Visayas Regional Director Wilma Perante said in an interview.
Southern Leyte, Samar, Northern Samar and Biliran are the only provinces that recorded higher inflation rates in November 2023 compared to October.
Southern Leyte posted the highest inflation rate at 6.4 percent in November 2023, but significantly lower than the 7.5 percent recorded the previous month.
Samar came next at 4.6 percent while Leyte and Northern Samar provinces both had a 3.2 percent inflation rate during the period. Biliran posted the lowest inflation rate at 2.3 percent.
The inflation rate for Tacloban City, the lone highly urbanized city in the region, was recorded at 2.5 percent in November 2023, lower than the 3 percent in October.
Inflation rate is the annual rate of change or the year-on-year changes in the consumer price index. It indicates how fast or slow the price changes over two time periods.
Contrary to common knowledge, Perante said low inflation does not necessarily mean that prices of commodities are decreasing, instead it means that prices continue to increase but at a slower rate.
The PSA came up with the data by establishing baseline information for the prices of the items in the base year 2018 and monitoring the prices of the items regularly.
Data collection for the consumer price index is done by the PSA provincial twice monthly, except for petroleum products which are monitored every Friday. (PNA)
