A.    Caraga

1.    Overall Inflation
     
Inflation Rate for Bottom 30% Income Households Drops to 0.3 percent in February 2025

The inflation rate for the bottom 30% income households in the region continued its downward trend, easing to 0.3 percent in February 2025, down from 0.9 percent in January 2025. This marks a significant decline from 4.0 percent in February 2024. (Refer to Figure 1, Tables A and B)

The primary driver of this slowdown was the decline in the year-on-year growth rate of food and non-alcoholic beverages, a heavily weighted category. Inflation in this segment dropped to -1.3 percent in February 2025 from -0.2 percent in January 2025. This category alone accounted for approximately 86.7 percent of the overall inflation drop for this income group.

Other Commodity Groups with declining inflation

A.    Transport: Inflation in this group fell to -0.6 percent in February 2025 from 0.9 percent in January 2025. The decline was largely driven by decreased gasoline prices, which posted an inflation rate of -3.6 percent this month from 0.4 percent in the previous month. 
B.    Information and Communication: Inflation in this category also slowed, recording 1.1 percent in February 2025, down from 1.4 percent in January 2025.

On the contrary, several other commodity groups recorded increased inflation rates in February 2025:

A.    Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco, at 6.5 percent from 5.4 percent;
B.    Clothing and Footwear, at 2.2 percent from 1.9 percent;
C.    Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels, at 5.0 percent from 4.0 percent;
D.    Furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance, at 1.8 percent from 1.6 percent; 
E.    Recreation, Sport and Culture, at 5.8 percent from 5.2 percent;
F.    Restaurants and Accommodation Services, at 1.0 percent from 0.9 percent; and
G.    Personal Care, and Miscellaneous Goods and Services, at 2.8 percent from 2.7 percent.

Meanwhile, the following commodity groups retained there respective previous month’s inflation rates in February 2025:

A.    Health, at 0.6 percent;
B.    Education services, at 0.2 percent; and
C.    Financial Services, at 0.0 percent. 

2.    Food Inflation    

Food Inflation for Bottom 30% Income Households Drops to -1.7 percent in February 2025

Food inflation for the bottom 30% income households at the regional level declined sharply to -1.7 percent in February 2025, down from -0.5 percent in January 2025. This marks a significant drop compared to 7.8 percent in February 2024 (Refer to Table D).

The primary driver of this decline was the decreased of the year-on-year growth in cereals and cereal products, which fell to -5.5 percent from -1.8 percent in January 2025. Within this category, the most notable decrease came from rice and corn, with their indices dropping to -6.5 percent and -7.4 percent respectively, from -2.4 percent and -2.2 percent in the previous month.

Other Food groups with lower inflation in February 2025:

A.    Vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas and pulses: Declined to 0.1 percent from 3.9 percent.
B.    Milk, other dairy products and eggs: Decreased to 5.0 percent from    5.2 percent.
C.    Fruits and nuts: Decreased to 5.6 percent from 5.8 percent.
Food groups with higher inflation in February 2025:

A.    Meat and other parts of slaughtered land animals: Rose to 6.6 percent from 4.8 percent.
B.    Fish and other seafood: Increased to -4.5 percent from -7.0 percent.
C.    Oils and fats: Increased to 2.9 percent from 1.1 percent.
D.    Sugar, confectionery and desserts; Increased to -0.1 percent from -4.5 percent.
E.    Ready-made food and other food products n.e.c.; Increased to 5.2 percent from 4.6 percent.

B.    Provinces and Highly Urbanized City (HUC)

Regional Inflation Trends: February 2025

In February 2025, inflation declined across all five provinces in the region, except for the Highly Urbanized City (HUC) which recorded an increase. The changes in inflation rates were as follows:

1.    Agusan del Norte: 0.0* percent down from 0.1 percent;
2.    Agusan del Sur: -0.5 percent down from 0.4 percent;
3.    Surigao del Norte: 1.7 percent down from 2.5 percent;
4.    Surigao del Sur: 0.9 percent down from 1.4 percent; and
5.    Dinagat islands: -2.6 percent down from 0.2 percent

In contrast, Butuan City (HUC), was the only area to record an increase, with inflation rising to 0.8 percent from -0.6 percent in January 2025.

Among all areas, Surigao del Norte posted the highest inflation rate at 1.7 percent, while Dinagat Islands recorded the lowest at -2.6 percent in February 2025 (Refer to Table A).

Note:
CPIs and inflation rates by province and selected city are posted on the PSA website (http://openstat.psa.gov.ph/).

(Sgd.) GUILLERMO M. LIPIO, JR.
(Chief Statistical Specialist)
Officer-In-Charge
PSA RSSO XIII