Release Date :
Reference Number :
SSR 2023-14
CAR registers CPI of 120.0
The 2018-based Consumer Price Index (CPI) of the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) in February 2023 was recorded at 120.0. This means that the basket of goods and services bought with PhP100.00 in 2018 was worth PhP120.00 in February 2023. The latest CPI in the region was lower than the national level which was recorded at 121.4.
The region’s February 2023 CPI was slightly lower than the CPI recorded in January 2023 which was at 120.5. However, the February 2023 CPI was still higher than the February 2022 CPI at 112.0, with a difference of 8.0 index points. The CPI of the region was continuously increasing throughout the months in 2022 until January 2023 (Figure 1).
The top commodities in the region with the highest recorded CPI were Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco with 145.9; Financial Services with 139.2, and Transport with 130.4. The CPI of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco in February 2023 was 0.3 index points higher than January 2023 while the CPI for Transport was 1.2 index points lower. Meanwhile, the CPI of Financial Services remained from what was recorded in January 2023 (Table 1).
Restaurants and Accommodation Services, and Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages registered CPI of above 120.0. The CPI of Restaurants and Accommodation Services in February 2023 of 127.8 grew faster than the previous month with 127.1. However, the CPI of Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages in February 2023 at 123.3 was lower than the 124.9 CPI reported in January 2023.
Commodity groups with recorded CPI between 110.0 and 119.0 were the following: Clothing and Footwear (117.6); Health (116.1); Personal Care and Miscellaneous Goods and Services (115.8); Housing, Water Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels (115.5); Furnishings, Household Equipment and Routine Household Maintenance (114.7); and Recreation, Sport and Culture (112.6).
Meanwhile, Education Services and Information and Communication both recorded a CPI of less than 110.0 in February 2023. Both commodity groups retained their CPI from January 2023. This meant that there were generally no significant price movements from both commodity groups (Table 1).
Inflation rate in Cordillera slows down at 7.1 percent
The rate of movement of prices in CAR was reported at 7.1 percent in February 2023. This figure was lower than the inflation rate during the previous month at 7.9 percent, or a difference of 0.8 percentage points. This was the month when price increases in the region slowed down since August 2022. However, the month’s inflation rate was still faster than in February 2022 with 4.3 percent.
The region’s latest inflation rate was also slower than the rate of price increase in the entire country, wherein the Philippines’ inflation rate in February 2023 was at 8.6 percent. In 2022, Cordillera region’s inflation was consistently faster than that of the entire country until August 2022. Beginning September 2022, CAR’s inflation rate remained slower than the national inflation, with wider difference seen in the months of October 2022 and February 2023 (Figure 2).
Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages contributed 63.4 percent to the slower general price increases in CAR, which inflation rate was at 10.1 percent in February 2023. This was mainly due to increased prices in commodity sub-groups such as Fruit-Bearing Vegetables, with 34.2 percent inflation rate, and Other Vegetables, fresh of chilled, with inflation at 61.4 percent. The latest inflation data under this commodity group was lower by 1.3 index points from previous month at 11.4 percent inflation (Figure 3).
Meanwhile, goods and services under Transport shared 36.4 percent to the slower inflation rate in the region, wherein an inflation rate of 13.5 percent was recorded. The inflation in this group was due to the rate of price movements in the following sub-groups: Other passenger transport by road (20.4 percent), Diesel (20.7 percent), and Gasoline (8.1 percent). The inflation rate of Transport was lower by 2.8 percentage points from January 2023 with 16.3 percent.
Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco contributed to the downtrend of the regional CPI by only 0.2 percent, wherein an inflation rate of 9.5 percent was reported. This was primarily due to price movements of Cigarettes with 14.1 percent inflation, and Spirits and Liquors with 7.2 percent inflation rate. The February 2023 inflation of this commodity group was slightly lower than the previous month with 9.6 percent.
Six other commodity groups registered higher inflation rates than the previous month, namely: 1) Clothing and Footwear (4.5 percent), 2) Furnishings, Home Equipment and Routine Household Maintenance (4.4 percent), 3) Health (4.0 percent), 4) Recreation, Sports and Culture (4.9 percent), 5) Restaurants and Accommodation Services (7.0 percent), and Personal Care, and Miscellaneous Goods and Services (4.0 percent) (Figure 4).
However, four commodity groups retained the same inflation rates registered as in January 2023: 1) Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Othe Fuels (4.1 percent), 2) Information and Communication (0.2 percent), 3) Financial Services (0.0 percent), and 4) Education Services (0.6 percent) (Figure 5).
Mountain Province and Kalinga record double-digit inflation rates
Among provinces and highly urbanized city in the Cordilleras, the highest inflation rate was recorded in Mountain Province and Kalinga, both with 10.1 percent. The February 2023 inflation rate in Mountain Province was higher than January 2023 with 9.8 percent. However, the February 2023 inflation rate in Kalinga was lower than the registered inflation in the previous month with 11.4 percent (Table 2).
Apayao and Abra also had lower inflation rates in February 2023 with 9.9 percent and 7.7 percent, respectively. Compared to the previous month, Apayao was lower by 0.4 percentage points, and Abra was lower by 1.6 percentage points.
Like Mountain Province, Ifugao also had a higher inflation rate in February 2023 with 6.4 percent, 0.8 percentage points higher than the previous month. Benguet and Baguio City recorded lower inflation rates in February 2023 compared to the previous month with 6.4 percent and 6.1 percent, respectively.
ALDRIN FEDERICO R. BAHIT, JR.
(Chief Statistical Specialist)
Officer-in-Charge
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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 2018 base year from the 2012 base year. The year 2018 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.
The rebasing of the CPI is done periodically by the PSA due to the following: 1) to ensure that the CPI market basket continues to capture goods and services commonly purchased by households over time; 2) to update expenditure patterns of households; 3) to synchronize its base year with 2018 base year of the Gross Domestic Product and other indices produced by PSA such as the Producer Price Index (PPI) for Agriculture; PPI for Manufacturing; and Value of Production Index (VaPI), Volume of Production Index (VoPI), and Value of Net Sales Index (VaNSI) for Manufacturing.
Market Basket (MB) is a sample of goods and services used to represent all goods and services produced or bought by the households.
More data and related tables can be found in the PSA Website: https://psa.gov.ph/price-indices/cpi-ir.
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 February 2023 Price Situation in the Cordillera (Base Year 2018) |
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