Figure 1: Consumer Price Index, All Items: Mountain Province and Cordillera 
Administrative Region, February 2024 - February 2025
(2018 = 100)

Consumer Price Index in Mountain Province decreased to 133.2 percent

The Consumer Price Index for all items in Mountain Province was recorded at 133.2 index points this February 2025. It decreased by 0.5 index points from the previous month's record at 133.7 index points.

On a year-on-year basis, the CPI increased by 5 percentage points during the month from 127.2 percent in February 2024. The CPI in Mountain Province consistently remains above the Cordillera Administrative Region’s record settling at 126.8 percentage points.

The CPI of 133.2 percent in February 2025 means that using the year 2018 as the base year, there was an increase of 33.2 index points on the average retail prices of a fixed basket of goods and services commonly purchased by households in the province (Figure 1).

Figure 2: Inflation Rates in Mountain Province and Cordillera Administrative Region, 
All Items, February 2024 – February 2025
(2018 = 100)

Inflation Rate in Mountain Province decreased to 3.9 percent

The inflation rate in Mountain Province decreased to 3.9 percent in February 2025, recording a decrease of 1.8 percentage points from 5.7 percent in January 2025. In February 2024, the inflation rate was lower at 3.6 percent. The inflation rate of the province is higher compared to the overall inflation rate of the Region at 2.5 percent.

Food and Non-alcoholic Beverages is the main contributory to the downward trend of the February 2025 Inflation Rate

The main contributory to the downward trend of the slower inflation rate base on weight of commodities was primarily due to the deflation of Food and Non-alcoholic Beverages which decreased to 4.6 percent from its 8.2 percent inflation rate in January 2025. Also, a decrease in the inflation rates was noted in the following commodity groups during the month:

     a.    Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco; 0.8 percent
     b.    Clothing and Footwear; 0.9 percent
     c.    Transport; -1.8 percent
     d.    Recreation, Sport and culture; 0.4 percent
     e.    Information and Communication; -0.1 percent
     f.     Restaurants and Accommodation Services; 3.8 percent
     g.    Personal Care, and Miscellaneous Goods and Services; 3.1 percent

In contrast the commodities, Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels; Health; and Information and Communication recorded an increase in their inflation rates at 7.7, 2.8 and -0.1 percent respectively.

Meanwhile, inflation rates of the commodities Furnishings, Household Equipment and Routine Maintenance; Education Services and Financial Services remained at 0.7,  0.0 and 0.0 percent respectively when compared to their previous months’ data (Table 1).

Table 1: Inflation Rate for All Income Households by Commodity Group,
Mountain Province: January 2024 – February 2025 
(2018 = 100)

Purchasing Power of Peso (PPP) increased 0.76

The PPP in Mountain Province increased to 0.76 in February 2025 from the recorded PPP in January 2025 at 0.75. This means that a peso in 2018 was worth 76 centavos in February 2025. The PPP in February 2024 was at 0.79 (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Purchasing Power of Peso (PPP) by Month,
Mountain Province: February 2024 – February 2025
(2018=100) 

Consumer Price Index (CPI) A single number used to measure changes in the average retail prices of a market basket or collection of goods and services commonly purchased by an average Filipino household. It shows how much on the average, prices of goods and services have increased or decreased from a particular reference period known as base year.

The CPI measures the changes in the price level of goods and services that most people buy for their day-to-day consumption relative to a base year (currently at year 2018)

The Purchasing Power of Peso (PPP) gives an indication of the real value of the peso (how much it is worth) in a given period relative to its value in a base period. Or it measures how much the peso in the reference year is worth in another year.

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). 

Base Year (BY) is the reference point of the index number series, at which the index number is set to zero.

Market Basket (MB) is a sample of goods and services used to represent all goods and services produced or bought.

The monthly Consumers Price Index is computed based on the average retail prices of goods and services collected during the first week and mid-month of the reference month. 

Retail Price is the actual price at which retailers sell a commodity on spot or earliest delivery, usually in small quantities for consumption and not for resale. It is confined to transactions on cash basis in the free market and excludes black-market prices and prices of commodities that are on sale as in summer sales, anniversary sales, Christmas sales, etc.

SGD
JERRY G. SANTOS
Chief Statistical Specialist

/MVB