Leyte consumer prices drop from March-June 2009 levels

By Neil D. Lopido

Tacloban City (July 30) — The Prices of goods and services in the province of Leyte registered a significant drop since March 2009 according to report from the Leyte Provincial Statistics Office through its provincial statistics officer, Wilma A. Perante.

Perante informed that the biggest drop was noted from March to April by 3.4 percentage points and followed by a 1.7 percentage points from May to June 2009. The 11 percent year-on-year rate of price change in May 2009 had considerably dwindled to 9.3 percent for the month-in-review which means that increase in prices of goods and services was slower in June 2009 compared to that of the previous month, Perante further informed.

The statistics officer revealed also that the decline on the inflation rate of the major commodity groups accounted the significant decrease of the inflation rate in the province of Leyte in June 2009. These commodity groups include fuel, light and water which dropped by 3.7 percentage points, services by 2.2 percentage points, and food by 1.9 percentage points.

On the other hand, a slight increment of 0.5 percentage point was observed on the month-on-month price change in the province due to considerable increase of the month-on-month price change of services by 3.4 percentage points and on housing and repairs by 1.2 percentage points, Perante disclosed.

On the purchasing power of the peso (PPP), a one-centavo fall was noted from May to June 2009, posting the province PPP at 61 centavos for the month in review, Perante further disclosed.

Inflation Rate (IR) is the general rise of prices over a specified period of time. It indicates how fast or how slow price changes over two-time periods. Contrary to common knowledge, low inflation does not necessarily mean that prices are falling; rather, it means that prices continue to increase at a slower rate. On the other hand, Purchasing Power of Peso (PPP) is a measure of how much the peso in the base period is worth in another period. It gives us an indication on the real value of the peso in a given period relative to the peso value in the base period. (PIA-8)