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 1.1 percent

• Central Visayas’ inflation rate decelerated to 1.1 percent in June 2019. Inflation in May 2019 was recorded at 1.5 percent, and in June 2018, 6.4 percent (Table A).

• The slowdown of inflation in June 2019 was mainly driven by slower annual rate posted in the index of the heavily-weighted food and non-alcoholic beverages at 1.1 percent. Also contributing to the downtrend of the inflation were the slower annual increments in the indices of the following commodity groups:

  • Clothing and Footwear, 0.3%;

  • Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas, and Other Fuels, 1.1%;

  • Health, 2.6%;

• On the other hand, higher annual rates were registered in the indices of following commodity groups:
  • Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco, 2.9%;
  • Furnishing, Household Equipment and Routine Maintenance of the House, 4.6%;
  • Transport, 1.3%;
  • Education, -0.4%;
  • Restaurant and Miscellaneous Goods and Services, 0.6%
• Meanwhile, Communication (0.2%) and Recreation and Culture (2.3%) maintained their previous month’s rate (Table B).

June 2019 CPI in Central Visayas was recorded at 123.5

• The CPI in Central Visayas was recorded at 123.5 in June 2019. An incline was noted from previous month which was at 123.4. In June 2018, it was at 122.1 and steadily increased in the succeeding months until October 2018. A decline of the CPI was noted in the months of November and December 2018 and a slight increase in January 2019 then decrease until March 2019. Starting April 2019, CPI for Central Visayas steadily increased until June 2019.

• Higher annual rate was noted in the indices of each commodity group from May and June 2019 compared to May and June 2018 except for Education which posted a lower annual rate this year compared to May and June last year (Table D).

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Purchasing Power of Peso (PPP) was recorded at 0.81 in June 2019

• In June2018, PPP of Central Visayas was recorded at 0.82 and remain constant until July 2018. In August 2018, PPP decreased to 0.81 and remain constant until November 2018. In December 2018, the PPP inclined to 0.82 and declined to 0.81 in January 2019 and remain constant for the month of February. PPP for March 2019 increased to 0.82 and declined to 0.81 and remain constant until June 2019.

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