By the end of 2023, the province of Zamboanga Sibugay marked a slight increase of its monthly inflation at 4.2 percent from 4.1 percent in November 2023. It surpassed both the national and regional inflation rates at 3.9 percent and 3.7 percent, respectively. Nonetheless, it came out way lower than the last year of the same month at 10.1 percent.

Among five areas in Zamboanga Peninsula region, the province stood at the middle when ranked - Isabela City being on top with 7.7 percent inflation followed by Zamboanga del Sur with 4.9 percent. Zamboanga City came fourth with 3.0 percent while Zamboanga del Norte ranked last with 2.9 percent. Moreover, Zamboanga Sibugay's year-to-date or annual inflation for 2023 settled at 5.9 percent.

The following commodity groups were the top contributors as to the province's increasing inflation including:

1. Food and non-alcoholic beverages at 9.5 percent from 9.2 percent, contributing 75.4 percent of the uptrend;
2. Transport at 2.4 percent from 2.1 percent, sharing 12.1 percent; and
3. Alcoholic beverages and tobacco at 5.3 percent from 4.6 percent, contributing 6.6 percent of the overall increase.

Moreover, the following commodity groups also recorded an increase in their inflation rates namely:

1. Health at 1.4 percent from 1.2 percent;
2. Personal care, and miscellaneous goods and services at 1.6 percent from 1.5 percent; and
3. Recreation, sport and culture at 0.6 percent from 0.4 percent.

On the other hand, below are the commodity groups whose inflation indices exhibited downward trend:

1. Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels at -6.2 percent from -5.4 percent;
2. Furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance at 0.5 percent from 0.6 percent;
3. Restaurants and accommodation services at 0. 9 percent from 1.1 percent.

Meanwhile, four commodity groups maintained their inflation rates including:

1. Clothing and footwear at 0.5 percent;
2. Information and communication at 0.2 percent;
3. Education services at 0.1 percent; and
4. Financial services at 0.0 percent.

As for the food inflation in Zamboanga Sibugay, the following four sub-food groups indicated an increase of their inflation rates:

1. Cereals and cereals products at 22.8 percent in December 2023 from 19.4 percent in November 2023;
2. Fish and other seafood at 8.7 percent from 6.5 percent;
3. Milk, other dairy products and eggs at 15.6 percent from 14.2 percent; and
4. Sugar, confectionery and desserts at -7.4 percent from -10.0 percent.

On the contrary, the following sub-food groups recorded a deceleration of their inflation rates namely:

1. Meat and other parts of slaughtered land animals at 3.6 percent from 6.3 percent;
2. Oils and fats at -1.6 percent from -0.8 percent;
3. Fruits and nuts at 2.3 percent from 8.4 percent;
4. Vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas and pulses at -5.8 percent from 2.5 percent; and
5. Ready-made food and other food products n.e.c. at 2.5 percent from 2.8 percent.

As to the staple food in the province, rice and corn exhibited an opposing trend in their inflation rates. The former showed an increment of 5.3 percentage points, that is, from 27.2 percent in November 2023 to 32.5 percent in December 2023 while the latter revealed a decrease from 5.6 percent to 5.1 percent.

TECHNICAL NOTES

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

Computation of CPI
 The computation of the CPI involves consideration of the following important points:

1. Base Year/ Period - A 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 - A sample of the thousands of varieties of goods purchased for consumption and services availed by the households in the country selected to represent the composite price behaviour of all goods and services purchased by consumers.
• Weighting System - The weighting pattern uses the expenditures on various consumer items purchased by households as a proportion to total expenditure.
• Formula - The formula used in computing the CPI is the weighted arithmetic mean of price relatives, the Laspeyre's formula with a fixed base year period (2006) weights.
• Geographic Coverage - CPI values are computed at the national, regional, and provincial levels, and for selected cities.

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

 

ATTY. RICHARD D. TABIGNE
Chief Statistical Specialist
Provincial Statistical Office-Zamboanga Sibugay