Tacloban: Drops in food prices in Eastern Visayas resulted in a further slowdown of the inflation rate (IR) from 0.7 percent in June to negative 0.2 percent in July 2025, the lowest in nearly six years. It was the first time since November 2019 that the region logged a negative IR, Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) Eastern Visayas Supervising Statistical Specialist Zonia Salazar said in a press briefing here on Friday.

According to Philippines News Agency, Salazar said the decline of the regional IR last month was largely influenced by a 0.9 percent annual price drop in food and non-alcoholic beverages from zero inflation in June. 'The downtrend of the food inflation in July 2025 was primarily influenced by the slower IR of vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas and pulses at 3.6 percent in July 2025 from 9.2 percent in June 2025,' Salazar told reporters.

The annual price of rice further dropped to 15.5 percent in July from 14.4 percent a month earlier, according to the official. Also contributing to the downtrend was housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels with zero inflation in July, down from 2.2 percent in June. The slower IR of education services at 0.8 percent from 8.3 percent in the previous month likewise contributed to the decrease of the region's IR.

Slower IRs were also recorded in restaurant and accommodation services (0.9 percent from 1.1 percent), alcoholic beverages and tobacco (3.8 percent from 4 percent), and clothing and footwear (0.7 percent from 0.8 percent). Inflation rate is the annual rate of change or the year-on-year changes in the consumer price index. It indicates how fast or slow the price changes over two times.

Contrary to common knowledge, the PSA said low inflation does not necessarily mean a decrease in the prices of commodities. Instead, it means that prices continue to increase but at a slower rate, Salazar said. The PSA came up with the data by establishing baseline information for the prices of the items in the base year 2018 and monitoring their prices regularly. Data collection for the consumer price index is done by the PSA provincial office twice a month, except for petroleum products which it monitors every Friday.