TACLOBAN CITY – Lower jumps in food prices in Eastern Visayas resulted to further slowdown of inflation rate (IR) from 1.1 percent in February to 1 percent in March, the lowest since November 2019, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported Friday.
The latest figure is the fourth lowest IR among 17 regions in the country in March, PSA Eastern Visayas Supervising Statistical Specialist Zonia Salazar said in a press briefing here.
“The annual price decrease in food pulled down the overall regional IR in March 2025 by negative 14.8 percent or negative 0.15 percentage point,” she said, noting that this is a trend seen since December 2024.
The IR for the food index further decreased to 0.4 percent from 0.6 percent in February 2025, primarily influenced by the faster annual price decrease of rice at 8.9, from 6.3 percent annual decline in February.
The slower IR for vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas and pulses at 7.2 percent during the month, from 6 percent in February, also contributed to the downtrend.
Three of the region’s six provinces recorded higher inflation rates last March — Eastern Samar, 3.2 percent from the previous month’s 1.8 percent; Biliran at 2.3 percent from 1.6 percent; and Northern Samar, 0.8 percent from 0.7 percent.
Provinces that posted lower inflation rates are Samar from 0.1 percent to negative 0.2 percent; Tacloban City from 1.1 percent to 0.2 percent; Leyte from 1.5 percent to 0.8 percent; and Region 8 from 1.1 percent to one percent.
Southern Leyte maintained an inflation rate of 1.1 percent, unchanged from the previous month, indicating stable price movements in the province.