TACLOBAN CITY – The inflation rate (IR) in Eastern Visayas continued its downward trend, reaching 1.1 percent in February 2025, a slight decrease from 1.3 percent in January 2025, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). This brings the region’s average inflation rate from January to February 2025 to 1.2 percent, lower than the national inflation rate of 2.1 percent for the same period.
The latest figure also marks a significant improvement compared to February 2024’s regional IR of 3.7 percent, reflecting easing price pressures across key commodity groups.
The drop in inflation was primarily driven by slower price increases in food and non-alcoholic beverages, which saw a decline from 1.0 percent in January to 0.7 percent in February 2025. The transport sector also contributed to the downtrend, with its IR decreasing from 0.6 percent to 0.1 percent over the same period.
Additionally, personal care, miscellaneous goods, and services registered a slower IR at 1.3 percent in February, down from 1.7 percent in January. Other commodity groups that recorded slower IRs include health – 1.6 percent (from 1.7 percent); and recreation, sport, and culture – 1.8 percent (from 2.0 percent).
Despite the overall decline, certain sectors saw an uptick in inflation. Alcoholic beverages and tobacco registered an increase from 3.0 percent in January to 3.4 percent in February 2025, while housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels rose from 1.7 percent to 2.2 percent.
Food inflation in Eastern Visayas further declined to 0.6 percent in February 2025, down from 0.9 percent in January and significantly lower than 7.0 percent in February 2024.
The drop in food inflation was mainly due to the faster annual price decrease in rice, which recorded a 6.3 percent decline in February, compared to a 4.2 percent drop in January.
Slower inflation was also observed in vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas, and pulses – 6.0 percent (from 8.7 percent); sugar, confectionery, and desserts – (-2.0 percent from -1.9 percent); flour, bread, pasta, and other cereals – 1.6 percent (from 1.7 percent).
However, price increases were recorded in corn – 1.5 percent (from 0.9 percent); meat – 3.7 percent (from 1.0 percent); fish and seafood – 4.9 percent (from 4.5 percent); milk, dairy products, and eggs – 2.3 percent (from 2.0 percent); fruits and nuts – 5.9 percent (from 4.5 percent); and ready-made food products – 5.0 percent (from 4.9 percent)
The top three contributors to regional inflation in February 2025 were housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels – 34.6 percent share (0.4 percentage points); food and non-alcoholic beverages – 28.5 percent share (0.3 percentage points); and education services – 8.4 percent share (0.1 percentage point)
For food inflation, the biggest contributors were fish and seafood – 221.0 percent share (1.33 percentage points); meat – 143.6 percent share (0.9 percentage points); and vegetables, tubers, plantains, and pulses – 117.0 percent share (0.7 percentage points).
(JOEY A. GABIETA, LIZBETH ANN A.ABELLA)
