Figure 1: Inflation Rate for the All Income and Bottom 30% Income Households 
in CAR, All Items: February 2024 - February 2025 
In Percent (2018=100)

1.    Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR)

In February 2025, the inflation rate for the bottom 30% income households in CAR, decelerated to 1.5%, from 3.7% in January 2025. 2025 inflation rate was observed to be lower for bottom 30% income household than for all income household (Table 1 and Figure 1.)

1.1 Main Driver to the Downward Trend of Inflation

The downward trend in inflation was largely driven by the sharper decline in the prices of Food and non-alcoholic beverages commodity group that recorded an inflation rate of 2.6% in February 2025, from 5.6% in January 2025. This commodity group contributed 67.3% to the inflation downtrend in the region’s bottom 30% income households (Table 1 and Figure 1).

Table 1: Year-on-Year Inflation Rates for Bottom 30% Income Households 
by Commodity Group in CAR, All Items: February 2024, January 2025, February 2025
In Percent (2018=100)

Slower inflation rates of the following commodity groups also contributed to the slowdown of the February 2025 inflation in the region’s bottom 30% income households:

a.    Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco, 2.5% from 3.2%
b.    Clothing and Footwear, 1.2% from 1.4%;
c.    Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, -1.8% from 1.5%;
d.    Furnishings, Household Equipment and Routine Household Maintenance, 2.2% from 2.7%;
e.    Transport, -1.4% from 0.0%;
f.    Information and Communication and Education Services, 0.9% from 1.1%;
g.    Recreation, Sport and Culture, Education Services, 2.6% from 3.1%;
h.    Restaurants and Accommodation Services, 3.0% from 3.9%; and
i.    Personal Care, and Miscellaneous Goods and Services, 3.5% from 3.7%.

On the other hand, only Health recorded accelerated inflation in the region’s bottom 30% income households, 3.7% from 2.6% inflation.

The inflation rates for Education Services and Financial Services remained the same from the previous month, at 0.5% and 0.0% respectively (Table 1).

1.2 Top Three (3) Contributors to Inflation for the Bottom 30% Income Households

The following commodity groups were the top three contributors to the February 2025 overall 1.5% inflation rate for the bottom 30% income households:

a.    Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages with 90.2% share of the total inflation, contributing 1.4 percentage points;
b.    Personal Care, and Miscellaneous Goods and Services with 12.0% share of the total inflation, contributing 0.2 percentage points; and
c.    Restaurants and Accommodation Services with 5.0% of the total inflation, contributing 0.1 percentage points.

2.    Food Inflation in CAR

Food inflation for bottom 30% income household slowed down to 2.4% in February 2025 from 5.6% in January 2025. This accounted for 81.6% of the total contributing 1.2 percentage points to the overall inflation rate of 1.5% for February 2025. In February 2024, food inflation was recorded at 4.1% (Table 2).

2.1 Main Drivers of the Downward Trend in Food Inflation

The decrease in food inflation was primarily driven by the slower inflation rate in Vegetables, Tubers, Plantains, Cooking Bananas and Pulses, that recorded 9.1% inflation from 22.7% inflation in January 2025. This group contributed 42.7% to the increase in food inflation for the bottom 30% income households in the region (Table 2).

Moreover, slower inflation rates were also observed for the following food items in February 2025:
a.    Rice, -2.0% from 2.6%;
b.    Corn, 2.3% from 7.6%;
c.    Flour, bread and other bakery products, pasta products, and other cereals, 2.5% from 3.3%;
d.    Milk, Other Dairy Products and Eggs, -1.0% from 1.5; and
e.    Ready-made food and other food products n.e.c., 7.6% from 8.2%.

Table 2: Year-on-Year Inflation Rates for Bottom 30% Income Households 
by Food Group in CAR, All Items: February 2024, January 2025-February 2025
In Percent (2018=100

On the other hand, the following food groups recorded faster inflation rates during the reference month:
a.    Meat and Other Parts of Slaughtered Land Animals, 6.7% from 5.7%; 
b.    Fish and Other Seafood, 4.4% from 3.3%;
c.    Oils and Fats, 1.8% from 0.9%; 
d.    Fruits and nuts 6.5% from 4.3%; and
e.    Sugar, Confectionery and Desserts, 0.2% from -2.2%.

2.2 Main Contributors to Cordillera Food Inflation

The top three food groups contributing to the 2.4% food inflation during the month were: 
a.    Vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas and pulses, 42.7% share, contributing 1.0 percentage points; 
b.    Meat and other parts of slaughtered land animals, 39.3% share, contributing 0.9 percentage points; and
c.    Fish and other Seafood, 21.2% share, contributing 0.5 percentage points.

3.    Provinces/ Highly Urbanized City (HUC) in CAR

In February 2025, inflation rates for the bottom 30% income households were observed to be slower across all provinces and HUC in CAR (Table 3).

Table 3: Year-on-Year Inflation Rates for Bottom 30% Income Households 
by Province/City in CAR, All Items: February 2024, January 2025, February 2025
In Percent (2018=100

For the bottom 30% income households in Cordillera, Baguio City and Mountain Province recorded the highest inflation rates both with 3.0% while Apayao registered the lowest with a deflation 3.7%.
________________________________________________________________
Note:
Detailed CPI and inflation rate data by province and HUCs are available on the PSA website (http://openstat.psa.gov.ph.

(SGD)
VILLAFE P. ALIBUYOG
Regional Director

Designation    Initials    Date
SOCD, CSS      AFRB    11 March 2025
SOCD, SuSS    WBM    11 March 2025
SOCD, COSW  SCG      10 March 2025

 
Technical Notes

Base Period a reference period, usually a year, at which the index number is set to 100. It is the reference point of the index number series.

Consumer Price Index (CPI) is an indicator of the change in the average retail prices of a fixed basket of goods and services commonly purchased by an average Filipino household. It shows how much on average, prices of goods and services have increased or decreased from a particular reference period known as base year.

Inflation Rate refers to the annual rate of change or the year-on-year change of the CPI expressed in percent. Inflation is interpreted in terms of the declining purchasing power of money.

Market Basket for CPI purposes, market basket is a term used to refer to a sample of goods and services that are commonly purchased and bought by an average Filipino household.

Philippine Classification of Individual Consumption According to Purpose (PCOICOP) A detailed classification of individual consumption expenditures on goods and services incurred by the three (household, general government, non-profit institutions serving households of the five institutional sectors (non-financial corporations, financial corporations of the 1993 and 2008 Systems of National Accounts (SNA. The PCOICOP was patterned after the United Nations COICOP.

Purchasing Power of the Peso (PPP) shows how much the peso in the base period is worth in the current period. It is computed as the reciprocal of the CPI for the period under review multiplied by 100.

Weight is a value attached to a commodity or group of commodities to indicate the relative importance of that commodity or group of commodities in the market basket.