TACLOBAN CITY — The inflation rate in Eastern Visayas slightly increased to 0.5 percent in October 2025 from 0.4 percent in September, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) regional office.
The region’s average inflation rate from January to October stood at 0.6 percent, lower than the national rate of 1.7 percent during the same period. In October last year, Eastern Visayas registered a higher inflation rate of 2.1 percent.
PSA said the uptick in inflation was mainly driven by higher prices in housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels, which rose to 0.4 percent from a 0.7 percent decline in September. Faster inflation was also recorded in the health sector (2.6 percent from 2.3 percent) and in alcoholic beverages and tobacco (4.0 percent from 3.8 percent).
Commodity groups such as personal care, miscellaneous goods and services, and clothing and footwear also showed slight increases in their respective inflation rates. In contrast, the transport sector slowed to 0.9 percent from 1.1 percent, while food and non-alcoholic beverages posted an annual price decline of 0.2 percent.
Among provinces, Samar posted the highest inflation rate at 1.9 percent, followed by Biliran at 1.0 percent, while Eastern Samar recorded the lowest at -0.7 percent. Tacloban City, the region’s lone highly urbanized city, registered an inflation rate of 1.2 percent.
PSA data, which it released on Wednesday, Nov. 12, also showed that food inflation in the region continued to decline at -0.6 percent in October, mainly due to slower price increases in meat, vegetables, and sugar.
The PSA noted that inflation measures the rate of change in the average prices of goods and services typically purchased by households and is based on the 2018 consumer price index (CPI) series.
(JOEY A. GABIETA)
