Headline Inflation

The headline inflation rate in the Province of Dinagat Islands rebounded to -1.2 percent this April 2025 from -1.9 percent in March 2025. This points to a 0.7 percentage increase from the previous month, and a 6.4 percentage point decrease compared to April 2024. The year-to-date average inflation rate stands at -0.8 percent, significantly below the national average of 2.0 percent and the Caraga regional average of 1.1 percent (Table A and Figure 1).

Key Drivers to the Upturn of Inflation to -1.2 percent

The increase in April 2025 was primarily driven by the faster increase in the average retail prices of Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages group, which recorded a -3.4 percent inflation rate from -4.3 percent in previous month and contributed 61.6 percent to the overall increase in provincial inflation.

Other contributing commodity groups to the acceleration of inflation rate for April 2025 include:

•    Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels: Inflation growth to 2.5 percent from 1.2 percent in previous month, contributing 26.3 percent to the growth.
•    Restaurants and Accommodation Services: Increased to 2.6 percent from 1.5 percent and shared about 5.0 percent to the provincial uptrend of inflation this April 2025.

Moreover, the following commodity groups were also noted to have expanding inflation rates this April 2025:

1.    Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco: Inflation improved to 5.3 percent, contributing 2.5 percent to the increase.
2.    Clothing and Footwear: Rose to 2.2 percent from 1.5 percent with 4.1 percent share to the uptrend.
3.    Health: Slight improvement, from -1.4 percent to -1.3 percent giving a 0.4 share to the inflation increase for April 2025.

Despite the overall increase of the inflation rate in April 2025, some commodity groups registered lower inflation for the month:

1.    Transport: Dropped to -3.6 percent from -2.6 percent in March 2025.
2.    Personal Care & Miscellaneous Goods and Services: Eased to 0.3 percent from 0.8 percent.
3.    Recreation., Sports and Culture: Inflation slid to 2.6 percent from 2.7 percent in previous month.

Moreover, these were the commodity groups showing a stable inflation rate. Inflation in the following groups remained unchanged:

1.    Education Services: 0.0%
2.    Financial Services: 0.0%
3.    Information and Communication: 0.9%

Top Contributors to the Overall Provincial Inflation Rate of -1.2 percent

The overall inflation rate of -1.2 percent in the Province of Dinagat Islands for April 2025 is the result of weighted contributions from various commodity groups. These groups pushed the inflation rate higher or maintained its negative level, reflecting the relative price changes and consumption patterns across households.

1.    Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages: This group contributes 146.1 percent or -1.75 percentage points to the overall inflation rate which can be pointed out directly to cereals which recorded a drop in the inflation rate from 20.2 percent in March 2025 to 21.0 percent in April 2025.

2.    Transport: It contributes about 25.5 percent or -0.31 percentage points, to the total provincial inflation rate. Lower retail prices of gasoline for this month recorded an inflation rate of -7.9 percent from -5.5 percent in previous month.
3.    Health: This commodity group has a contribution of 3.8 percent or -0.05 percentage points to the overall provincial inflation. The fast-increasing prices for medicines, vaccines and other pharmaceutical preparations resulted to an inflation of -1.6 percent this April from -1.7 percent in March 2025.

Food Index

The food index for province rebounded in April 2025, posting slight increase at -4.2 percent, compared to -5.0 percent in March 2025. Several key food subgroups contributed to this upsurge:

1.    Fish, live, fresh, chilled or frozen This subgroup experienced an overturn in the retail price index, with inflation shooting up to 3.0 percent in April 2025 from 0.0 percent in the previous month. This increase accounted for a 36.7 percent share to the total decrease in food inflation. This can be due to the speedy increase in the average retail prices for other pelagic fishes like Alumahan, Bonito ad the likes recording an inflation rate of 2.7 percent from -3.9 percent in previous month.

2.    Tubers, Plantains, Cooking Bananas: Prices in this group swelled up as well, with inflation increasing to 13.4 percent from -4.8 percent in March 2025. This contributed to 16.1 percent to the overall decline in food inflation. Particularly, the faster increase in the average retail prices of sweet potatoes with an inflation rate of 13.3 percent from -5.9 percent in March 2025 was noted.

3.    Dates, figs ad tropical fruits, fresh: Inflation rose to 6.6 percent from 3.0 percent in the previous month contributing 9.6 percent to the total growth in the food inflation. The faster price increase of the average retail price for Bananas, fresh from -2.1 percent in March 2025 to 3.9 percent this month contributed the increase in the overall food inflation.

Purchasing Power of the Peso

The Purchasing Power of the Peso (PPP) in Dinagat Islands showed also an upturn to Php 0.74 from P0.73 in March 2025, reflecting the increasing inflation experienced in the province for the month of April 2025.

(Sgd.) GLENNBOY C. LISTON
Chief Statistical Specialist
Dinagat Islands-PO

Technical Notes

The Philippine Statistics Authority generates the monthly Consumer Price   Index (CPI) based on the 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 is important in monitoring price stability and the value of the country’s currency.

The Consumer Price Index (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. It shows how much on the average, prices of goods and services have increased or decreased from a particular reference period known as base year.

The CPI is mostly used in the calculation of the rate and purchasing power of the peso. It is a major statistical series used for economic analysis and as monitoring indicator of government economic policy.

    The CPI is also used to adjust other economic series for price changes.  Another major importance of the CPI is its use as basis to adjust wages in labor management contracts as well as pensions and retirement benefits. 

Inflation rate refers to the rate of change in the average prices of goods and services typically purchased by consumers. It is interpreted in terms of declining purchasing power of money.

The Purchasing Power of the Peso (PPP) indicates the value of the peso in the period under       review as compared to the   value of the peso in the base period. It is computed as the reciprocal of the CPI for the period under review     multiplied by 100.