Consumer Price Index
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Consumer Price Index (CPI) is the general measure of the change in the average retail prices of a market basket or collection of goods and services commonly purchased by the average Filipino household.
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The CPI of the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) in March 2019 was 117.4. This was higher by 2.9 index points from the 114.5 CPI of March 2018 using 2012 as base year
Table 1. Consumer Price Index by Province, CAR:
March 2018 and 2019
(2012=100)
| Province | March | Index Point Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 2019 | ||
| CAR | 114.5 | 117.4 | 2.9 |
| Abra | 110.8 | 115.9 | 5.1 |
| Apayao | 114.4 | 121.8 | 7.4 |
| Benguet | 116.7 | 117.7 | 1.0 |
| Ifugao | 110.8 | 118.3 | 7.5 |
| Kalinga | 116.0 | 122.8 | 6.8 |
| Mt. Province | 110.5 | 112.4 | 1.9 |
- Among the CAR provinces, Kalinga posted the highest CPI for March 2019 with 122.8, followed by Apayao with 121.8, and Ifugao with 118.3. Mountain Province posted the lowest CPI with112.4.
- In terms of index point change, Ifugao incurred the highest increase with 7.5 index points, followed by Apayao with 7.4 index points increase.
CPI by Commodity Groups
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Among the commodity groups, Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco had the highest CPI in the region with 215.0. The province of Apayao incurred the highest CPI on this commodity with 335.1, followed by Abra with 269.0 and Kalinga with 244.4.
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Education and Clothing and footwear registered the second highest CPI among the commodity groups in the region for March 2019 with 121.8 index points.
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Among the provinces, Kalinga posted the highest index on education with 121.8 index points, followed by Benguet and Mountain Province with 121.6 and 120.5 index points, respectively. Apayao had the lowest registered CPI on education with 60.9 index points.
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Ifugao recorded the highest CPI on clothing and footwear with 125.0 index points, followed by Kalinga and Benguet with 124.4 and 122.4 index points, respectively. Apayao registered the lowest CPI on clothing and footwear with 115.7 index points.
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Health ranked third with 120.1 index points. Benguet and Ifugao recorded the highest CPI on health both with 125.7 index points followed by Kalinga with 124.8 index points.
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Communication continued to have the lowest CPI among the commodity groups in the region with 101.4 index points. The province of Apayao incurred the highest index on communication with 105.5 index points, while Mountain Province had the lowest with 100.1 index points.
Table 2. Consumer Price Index by Commodity Group and by Province, CAR:
March 2019 (2012=100)
| Commodity Group | Region/Province | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CAR | Abra | Apayao | Benguet | Ifugao | Kalinga | Mt. Province | |
| All Items | 117.4 | 115.9 | 121.8 | 117.7 | 118.3 | 122.8 | 112.4 |
|
Food and Non - Alcoholic |
117.3 | 116.6 | 121.7 | 115.8 | 116.9 | 123.3 | 118.1 |
|
Alcoholic Beverages and |
215.0 | 269.0 | 335.1 | 194.5 | 209.5 | 244.4 | 172.2 |
| Clothing and Footwear | 121.8 | 120.0 | 115.7 | 122.4 | 125.0 | 124.4 |
172.2 |
|
Housing, Water, Electricity, |
116.1 | 109.2 | 119.2 | 121.5 | 112.5 | 111.8 | 110.3 |
| Furnishing, Household Equipment and Routine Maintainance of the House |
113.1 |
111.8 |
117.3 |
112.0 | 112.5 | 126.2 | 109.5 |
| Health | 120.1 | 109.3 | 109.3 | 125.7 | 125.7 | 124.8 | 102.4 |
| Transport | 106.7 | 108.9 | 105.8 | 106.2 | 105.3 | 105.5 | 109.1 |
| Communication | 101.4 | 103.8 | 105.5 | 100.4 | 101.0 | 103.1 | 100.1 |
| Recreation and Culture | 107.9 | 112.2 | 105.8 | 105.4 | 106.7 | 117.1 | 104.4 |
| Education | 121.8 | 100.8 | 60.9 |
121.6 |
100.0 | 179.1 | 120.5 |
| Restaurants and Miscellaneous Goods and Services |
116.3 | 113.7 | 123.8 | 115.2 | 114.1 | 126.2 | 112.3 |
- By index point change, Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco recorded the highest increase by 30.5 points. Increases were also incurred in Health (9.3 points), Recreation and Culture (4.6 points), and Clothing and Footwear (4.4 points). The rest of the commodity groups reported minimal annual increases.
Figure 1. Year-on-Year Consumer Price Index by Commodity Group, CAR:
March 2018 and 2019 (2012=100)
Inflation Rate
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Average increase in prices of goods and services in the region further increased to 2.5 percent in March 2019 from 2.9 percent in March 2018.
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Ifugao posted the highest inflation rate in March 2019 at 6.8 percent, followed by Apayao at 6.5 percent, and Kalinga at 5.9 percent.
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Most Inflation rates of the provinces in March 2019 surpassed the March 2018 Inflation rates except for the province of Benguet and Mt. Province. Apayao posted the fasted price increases with 4.4 percentage points, followed by Ifugao with 4.0 percentage points, and Kalinga with 2.6 percentage points.
Figure 2. Year-on-Year Inflation Rates by Province, CAR:
March 2018 and 2019 (2012=100)
By Commodity Group, Year- on-Year
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Year-on-year inflation rate of the heavily-weighted Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages index in the region remained at 1.4 from February 2019 to of March 2019.
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Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco had the highest inflation in March 2019 among other commodities in the region with 16.5 percent, followed by Health with 8.4 percent.
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Education incurred a negative inflation rate of 1.3 percent.
Table 3. Inflation Rates by Commodity Groups, CAR:
February and March 2019 (2012=100)
| Commodity Group | Inflation Rates | |
|---|---|---|
| February | March | |
| All Items | 2.5 | 2.5 |
| Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages | 1.4 | 1.4 |
| Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco | 17.0 |
16.5 |
| Clothing and Footwear | 3.8 | 3.7 |
| Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels | 2.8 | 2.7 |
| Furnishing, Household Equipment & Routine Maintenance of the House | 1.7 | 1.7 |
| Health | 9.1 | 8.4 |
| Transport | 1.9 | 3.1 |
| Communication | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Recreation and Culture | 4.3 | 4.5 |
| Education | -1.3 | -1.3 |
| Restaurants and Miscellaneous Goods and Services | 3.2 | 3.3 |
By Food Items, Year-on-Year
- Only Fish recorded the highest price increase both in 2018 and 2019.
- On the other hand, prices of Rice went down with negative 3.0 percent in March 2019.
Table 4. Year-on-Year CPI and Inflation Rates of Selected Food Items, CAR:
February and March, Year 2018 and 2019 (2012=100)
| Food Items | 2018 | 2019 | Inflation Rates | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| February | March | February | March | Previous | Current | |
| Bread and Cereals | 115.4 | 116.2 | 114.4 | 114.3 | (0.9) | (1.6) |
| Rice | 115.7 | 116.7 | 113.3 | 113.1 | (2.1) | (3.0) |
| Corn | 137.9 | 142.2 | 161.5 | 162.0 | 17.1 | 13.9 |
| Other Cereals* | 112.9 | 113.0 | 115.0 | 115.2 | 1.9 | 1.9 |
| Meat | 114.8 | 114.6 | 117.8 | 119.0 | 2.6 | 3.8 |
| Fish | 114.8 | 115.3 | 123.8 | 124.4 | 2.6 | 3.8 |
| Milk, Cheese and Eggs | 112.9 | 113.1 | 116.4 | 116.5 | 3.1 | 3.0 |
| Oils and Fats | 111.9 | 111.6 | 115.9 | 116.1 | 3.6 | 4.0 |
| Fruits | 132.9 | 134.0 | 133.9 | 134.4 | 0.8 | 0.3 |
| Vegetables | 117.9 | 116.7 | 116.1 | 114.6 | (1.5) | (1.8) |
| Sugar, Jam, Honey, Chocolate & Confectionery | 107.6 | 107.4 | 111.3 | 111.5 | 3.4 | 3.8 |
| Food Products, N. E. C. | 107.6 | 108.6 | 109 | 109.4 | 1.3 | 1.3 |
Source: Philippine Statistics Authority
Purchasing Power of the Peso (PPP)
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The value of the peso in the region was 85 centavos in March 2019. It dropped by two centavos from 87 centavos in March 2018. This means that one peso in 2012 is worth 85 centavos in March 2019.
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In other words, a basket of goods that can be bought with 100 pesos in December 2012 is worth 117.4 pesos in March 2019.
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The PPP in all the provinces weakened in March 2019 compared to the same month of the previous year.
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Mountain Province had the highest peso value at 89 centavos. Meanwhile, Kalinga had the lowest peso value at 81 centavos.
Figure 3. Purchasing Power of the Peso by Province, CAR:
March 2018 and 2019 (2012=100)
Technical Notes
Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a general measure of the change in the average retail prices of a market basket or collection of goods and services commonly purchased by the average Filipino household.
Inflation Rate (IR) is the rate of change in the average price level between two periods (year-on year/month-on-month as measured by the CPI)
Purchasing Power of the Peso (PPP) measures how much the peso in the reference year is worth in another year
Base Year (BY) is the reference point of the index number series, at which the index number is set to 100. It is the reference point of the index number series.
The CPI is now rebased to 2012 base year from the current 2006 base year. The year 2012 was chosen as the next base year because it was the latest year when the Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES) results were made available. It is also the synchronized rebasing of the price indices to base year 2006 and every six years thereafter.
Market Basket (MB) is a sample of goods and services used to represent all goods and services produced or bought.
