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

Consumer Price Index in Mountain Province increased to 132.6 percent

The Consumer Price Index for all items in Mountain Province was recorded at 132.6 index points this March 2025. It increased by 0.4 index points from the previous month's record at 132.2 index points.
 
On a year-on-year basis, the CPI increased by 5 percentage points during the month from 127.6 percent in March 2024. The CPI in Mountain Province consistently remains above the Cordillera Administrative Region’s record settling at 126.5 percentage points.

The CPI of 132.6 percent in March 2025 means that using the year 2018 as the base year, there was an increase of 32.6 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, March 2024 – March 2025
(2018 = 100)

Inflation Rate in Mountain Province remains at 3.9 percent

The inflation rate in Mountain Province remained at 3.9 percent in March 2025, recording the same percentage points in February 2025. In March 2024, the inflation rate was lower at 1.4 percent. The inflation rate of the province is higher compared to the overall inflation rate of the Region at 2.3 percent.

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

The main contributory to the steady trend of the inflation rate based on weight of commodities was primarily due to the deflation of Food and Non-alcoholic Beverages which decreased to 3.8 percent from its 4.6 percent inflation rate in February 2025. Also, a decrease in the inflation rates was noted in the following commodity groups during the month:

a.    Personal Care, and Miscellaneous Goods and Services; 3.0 percent

In contrast the commodities, Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels; Restaurant and Accommodation Services; Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco; Health; Transport; and Information and Communication; recorded an increase in their inflation rates at 8.0, 4.4, 4.2, 4.0, -0.7 and 0.0 percent in that order.

Meanwhile, inflation rates of the commodities Clothing and Footwear; Furnishings, Household Equipment and Routine Maintenance; Recreation, Sport and Culture; Education Services and Financial Services remained at 0.9, 0.7, 0.4, 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: February 2024 – March 2025 
(2018 = 100)

Purchasing Power of Peso (PPP) increased 0.75

The PPP in Mountain Province decreased to 0.75 in March 2025 from the recorded PPP in February 2025 at 0.76. This means that a peso in 2018 was worth 75 centavos in March 2025. The PPP in March 2024 was at 0.78 (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Purchasing Power of Peso (PPP) by Month,
Mountain Province: March 2024 – March 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 - 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.





JERRY G. SANTOS
Chief Statistical Specialist

/MVB