Starting March 2018, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) released the rebased CPI series as announced in the press release number 2018-031 dated 22 February 2018. The CPI series for July 2018 onwards shall be 2012-based.

Year on Year Inflation rate in Central Visayas was recorded at 5.3 percent

• Central Visayas’ inflation rate further decelerated to 5.3 percent in December 2018. The inflation was higher compared to last year of the same period at 3.0 percent. In the previous month, inflation was posted at 6.0 percent. (Table A). Inflation rate during the month was tenth to highest since January 2014 (Table C).

• Lower annual increases in the indices of the following commodity groups during the month also contributed to the downtrend:

  • Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages, 8.0%

  • Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco, 19.8%

  • Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas, and Other Fuels, 3.8%

  • Transport, 2.7%;

• Meanwhile, higher annual mark-ups were exhibited in the indices of the following commodity groups:
  • Clothing and Footwear, 1.1%;
  • Health, 4.3%
• The rest of the commodity groups maintained their previous month’s rate (Table B).

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Central Visayas December 2018 CPI’s recorded a decrease of 122.5 compared to the previous month

• The CPI in Central Visayas was recorded at 122.5 in December 2018. A decline was noted from previous month which was at 123.1. In December 2017, it was at 116.3 and steadily increased in the succeeding months until October 2018.
• Higher annual rate was noted in the indices of all items by commodity groups from December and November 2018 compared to December and November 2017 (Table D).

• In December 2017, PPP of Central Visayas was recorded at 0.86 and dropped to 0.85 in January 2018. From January 2018, it steadily decreased until April 2018 at 0.82 and remain constant until July 2018. In August 2018, PPP decreased to 0.81 and remain constant until November 2018. Finally, the PPP during the last month of 2018 posted an increment of 0.82.  (Figure 2).

TECHNICAL NOTES

The Philippine Statistics Authority generates and announces the monthly Consumer Price Index (CPI) based on a nationwide survey of prices for a given basket of goods and services. Two important indicators, the inflation rate and purchasing power of the peso (PPP), are derived from the CPI which are important in monitoring price stability and the value of the country’s currency. 

The CPI is an indicator of the change in the average retail prices of a fixed basket of goods and services commonly purchased by households relative to a base year.

Retail Price is the price at which a commodity is sold for spot in small quantities for consumption.

Base Period/Base Year is the period, usually a year, at which the index number is set to 100. It is the reference point of the index number series.

Market Basket is a term used to refer to a sample of goods and services that are commonly purchased and bought by an average Filipino household.

Weight is a value attached to a commodity or ground of commodities to indicate the relative importance of that commodity or group of commodities in the market basket.

Inflation Rate is equivalent to a decline in the purchasing power of the peso. It is the change in the CPI over a specific period of time (usually a month or a year). That is, where:

CPI₁ - is the CPI in the previous period

CPI₂ - is the CPI in the current period

The Purchasing Power of the Peso (PPP) is a measure of the real value of the peso in a given period relative to a chosen reference period. It is computed by getting the reciprocal of the CPI and multiplying the result by 100. That is,

Headline Inflation is the rate of change in the weighted average prices of all goods and services in the CPI basket.

(SGD.) ARIEL E. FLORENDO
Regional Director