1.Headline Inflation

The province’s headline inflation or overall inflation increased to 1.4 percent in January 2025 from 1.3 percent in December 2024.  In January 2024, the inflation rate was higher at 2.9 percent. (Figure 1 and Table A)

1.2 Main Contributors to the Upward Trend of the January 2025 Headline Inflation
The uptrend in the overall inflation in January 2023 was primarily influenced by the faster annual increment in the index of food and non-alcoholic beverages at 4.2 percent during the month from 3.7 percent during the previous month.  The annual increase of transport at 0.1 percent during the month from the -0.7 percent during December 2024 also contributed to the uptrend.

Other contributors to the uptrend of the January 2025 inflation were the following:
a.    Clothing and footwear at 0.9 percent from 0.7 percent; and
b.    Recreation, sport and culture at 2.5 percent from 2.2 percent.

In contrast, the following commodity groups registered lower inflation rates during the month:
a.    Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, -3.3 percent from -2.4 percent;
b.    Health, 0.8 percent from 1.0 percent; 
c.    Information and communication, 0.2 percent from 0.3 percent; and
d.    Personal care, and miscellaneous goods and services, 1.5 percent from 1.6 percent.

The indices of the rest of the commodity groups remained at their respective previous 
month’s annual rates.  (Table B)

2. Food Inflation

Food inflation at the provincial level rose to 4.4 percent in January 2025 from 3.9 percent in the previous month.  In January 2024, food inflation was lower at 2.9 percent.  (Table C)

2.1 Main Drivers to the Upward Trend of Food Inflation
The acceleration of food inflation in January 2025 was primarily brought about by the faster inflation rate of vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking banana and pulses at 22.0 percent during the month from 15.5 percent in December 2024.  Also contributed to the uptrend of the food inflation in January 2025 were the faster annual increases in the indices of meat and other parts of slaughtered land animals at 7.4 percent 6.4 percent during the previous month, fish and other seafood at 0.7 percent from -1.3 percent during the previous month, oils and fats at 2.7 percent from 0.0 percent in the previous month, and sugar, confectionery and desserts at     -1.4 percent from -1.7 percent in December 2024.

On the contrary, lower annual growth rates during the month were observed in the indices of the following food groups:
a.    Rice, 1.4 percent from 4.2 percent;
b.    Milk, other dairy products and eggs, -0.5 percent from 0.4 percent;
c.    Fruits and nuts, 1.2 percent from 5.2 percent; and
d.    Ready-made food and other food products n.e.c., 3.0 percent from 3.2 percent.

Purchasing Power of Peso recorded at Php0.75 in January 2025

Purchasing Power of Peso (PPP) continues to weaken through the years and reached PhP0.75 in January 2025 in the province of Zambales. The PPP of PhP0.75 implies that the PhP1.00 in 2018, as the base year, values only PhP0.75 in January 2025.

NORMAN L. BUNDALIAN
Chief Statistical Specialist
PSA Zambales

TECHNICAL NOTES

Consumer Price Index (CPI)
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. Prices are compared to a base year and weighted by the appropriate consumption pattern. The present series uses 2012 as the base year.

Components of the CPI:

Base Year/Base period
A reference date at which the index is equal to 100. The base year is 2018.

Market Basket
A sample of the variety of goods and services commonly consumed by an average Filipino household to represent the price behavior of all goods and services brought by consumers.

Weight
A value attached to the commodity or group of commodities depending on the magnitude of its distribution to the index.

Sample Outlets
Establishments where prices of commodities are quoted.

Prices of Items in Market Basket
Baseline information for prices of the items in the base year is established and monitoring the prices of items is done on a regular basis.

Inflation Rate
The annual rate of change or the year-on-year changes in the average retail prices expressed in percent.

Purchasing Power of the Peso (PPP)
The measure of how much the peso in the base period is worth in the current period. It is computed by getting the reciprocal of the CPI and multiplying the result by 100.