Consumer Price Index

• 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.

• The CPI of the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) in February 2018 was 114.3. This was higher by 2.9 index points from the 111.4 CPI of February 2017 using 2012 as the new base year.
• Rebasing CPI is necessary to ensure that this barometer of economic phenomena is truly reflective of current situation. Consumer taste, fashion and technology change over time causing the fixed market basket of goods and services to become outmoded. To capture such changes for a more meaningful price comparison, revision or updating of the fixed market basket, the sample outlets, the weights and the base year had to be done periodically. The CPI is an indicator that derives its usefulness in its representation of how much a typical market basket behaves over a specific period.

                  Source: Philippine Statistics Authority

• Among the CAR provinces, Benguet posted the highest CPI for February 2018 at 116.5, followed by Kalinga at 115.3, and Apayao at 114.3. Ifugao posted the lowest CPI at 110.1.
• In terms of index point change, Benguet incurred the highest increase at 3.6 index points, followed by Mt Province and Kalinga with 2.6 and 2.4 points increase, respectively.

Consumer Price Index by Commodity Groups

• Among the commodity groups, Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco had the highest CPI in the region at 183.0. The province of Apayao incurred the highest CPI on this commodity at 281.6, followed by Abra, and Kalinga at 215.1, and 203.4, respectively.
• Education registered the second highest CPI among the commodity groups in the region for February 2018 at 123.4 index points. Among the provinces, Kalinga had the highest index on education at 178.6, while Abra and Apayao had the lowest both at 115.5.
• Clothing and Footwear ranked third at 116.9 index points. Mountain Province recorded the highest index on clothing and footwear at 120.7, followed by Ifugao, and Benguet at 118.2, and 117.8 index points, respectively.
• Communication continued to have the lowest CPI among the commodity groups in the region with 101.3 index. The province of Abra incurred the highest index on communication with 103.6 index points, while Mountain Province had the lowest at 100.0 index points.
• Among the CAR provinces, Benguet incurred the highest CPI for all items with 116.5, while the province of Ifugao have the lowest index at 110.1.

                  Source: Philippine Statistics Authority

• By index point change, Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco recorded the highest which increased by 18.6 points. Increases were also incurred in Transport (4.4 points), Food and Non-alcoholic Beverages (3.4 points), and Clothing & Footwear (2.7 points). The rest of the commodity groups reported minimal annual increases.

                                                                   Note:
                                                                    ^{1. includes electricity, Gas & Other Fuels
                                                                     2. includes Household Equipment and Routine Maintainance of the House
                                                                     3. includes Miscellaneous Goods and Services}
                                                                   Source:Philippine Statistics Authority

Inflation Rate

• Average increase in prices of goods and services in the region accelerated to 2.6 percent in February 2018.
• Benguet posted the highest inflation rate at 3.2 percent, followed by Mountain Province at 2.4 percent, and Kalinga at 2.1 percent.
• Inflation surpassed the February 2017 rates for the provinces of Abra, Benguet and Mountain Province while other provinces had lower inflation rates in February 2018 relative to the same month last year.

By Commodity Group, Year - on - Year

• Year-on-year inflation rate of the heavily-weighted Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages index in the region accelerated to 3.0 percent from 2.2 percent in the previous month.
• Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco had the highest inflation among other commodities in the region with 11.3 percent, followed by Transport with 4.4 percent.
• Meanwhile, inflation rates for Education were the same last month.

By Food Items, Year - on - Year

• Corn (7.7), Meat (6.1), and Rice (3.5) persisted to be the top three highest price increases in February 2018.
• Meanwhile, Vegetables, Sugar, Jam, Honey, Chocolate and Confectionery, and Food Products not elsewhere classified incurred negative inflation rates of 0.2 percent, 1.0 percent, and 0.2 percent, respectively.

Purchasing Power of Peso (PPP)

• The value of the peso in the region was 87 centavos in February 2018. This dropped by three centavos from 90 centavos in February 2017. This means that one peso in 2012 is worth 87 centavos in 2018.
• In other words, a basket of goods that can be bought 100 pesos in 2012 is worth 115 pesos in February 2018.
• The PPP in all the provinces generally weakened in February 2018 as compared to February 2017.
• Ifugao had the highest peso value at 91 centavos, followed by Abra and Mountain Province both at 90 centavos. Meanwhile, Benguet had the lowest peso value at 86 centavos.

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

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