• 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 January 2021 was 125.3. This was higher by 4.8 index points from the 120.5 CPI of January 2020 using 2012 as base year.
• In general, the CPI increased reflecting the rise in the average prices of goods and services in all the six provinces of CAR.

• Among the CAR provinces, Kalinga posted the highest CPI for January 2021 with 132.8, followed by Apayao with 128.2, and Benguet with 125.3 while Mountain Province posted the lowest CPI with 122.4.

CPI by Commodity Groups

• Among the commodity groups, Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco had the highest CPI in the region with 254.1 index points. The province of Apayao incurred the highest CPI on this commodity with 436.5 index points, followed by Abra, Kalinga, and Ifugao with 359.7, 340.3, and 261.5 index points, respectively.
• Clothing and Footwear ranked second among the commodity groups in the region for January 2021 with 130.9 index points. Among the provinces, Kalinga had the highest index on clothing and footwear with 140.9, while Apayao had the lowest with 126.3 index points.
• Education registered the third highest CPI with 128.9 index points. Kalinga recorded the highest index on education with 193.9, followed by Mountain Province and Benguet with 129.4 and 128.5 index points, respectively.
• Communication incurred the lowest CPI among the commodity groups in the region during the month of January 2021 with 102.3 index points. The province of Abra incurred the highest index on communication with 105.0 index points, while Mountain Province had the lowest with 98.0 index points.
• Among the CAR provinces, Kalinga incurred the highest CPI for all items with 132.8, while Mountain Province garnered the lowest index with 122.4 in January 2021.

• By index point change, Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco recorded the highest increase at 23.2 index points. Increases were also incurred in Food and Non-alcoholic Beverages (8.3 points), Restaurant and Miscellaneous Goods and Services (5.3 points), Clothing and Footwear (4.2 points). The rest of the commodity groups reported minimal annual increases.

• The average increase in the prices of goods and services in the region was 4.0% in January 2021, higher than the inflation of 2.8% in January 2020.
• Kalinga posted the highest inflation rate in January 2021 with 5.2%, followed by Mountain Province with 4.2%. Apayao incurred the lowest inflation among all CAR provinces with 3.3%.
• Only Mountain Province had lower inflation rate for January 2021 compared to January 2020. All remaining provinces recorded higher inflation rates for January 2021 compared to January 2020.

Figure 4. Year-on-Year Inflation Rates by Province,

CAR: January 2020 and 2021(2012=100)

 

By Commodity Group

• Inflation rate of the heavily-weighted Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages increased by 1.5 percentage points from the December 2020 rate of 5.4% to 6.9% in January 2021.
• Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco remained to have the highest inflation rate among other commodities in the region with 10.0% in January 2021 followed by Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages with 6.9%, and Restaurant and Miscellaneous Goods and Services with 4.4%.

Figure 5. Inflation Rates by Commodity Groups, CAR: January 2021 (2012=100)

• ​Among all other commodities, Transport incurred a deflation (decrease in the general price level of goods and services; occurs when the inflation rate falls below 0% - a negative inflation rate) with 1.4%.

By Food Items, Year-on-Year

• Among the food items, Corn recorded the highest CPI in the region in January 2021 with 187.8. This was followed by Vegetables, Fruits, and Fish with 154.9, 149.9, and 145.9 index points, respectively.
• By index point change, Vegetables recorded the highest with 30.9. Corn followed with 17.2 index point increase followed by Meat with 16.4.

Figure 6. Year-on-Year CPI and Inflation Rates of Selected Food Items,

CAR: January, Year 2020 and 2021 (2012=100)

 

Purchasing Power of the Peso (PPP)

• The Purchasing Power of the Peso (PPP) in all the provinces generally weakened in January 2021 compared to the same month of the previous year.
• The value of 1 peso in the region was 80 centavos in January 2021. It dropped by three centavos from 83 centavos in January 2020. Mountain Province had the highest peso value with 82 centavos, followed by Abra and Ifugao both with 81 centavos. Meanwhile, Kalinga had the lowest peso value with 75 centavos.
• Conversely, a basket of goods that can be bought with 100 pesos in December 2012 is worth 125.3 pesos in January 2021.
• Also, a hundred pesos in 2012 was worth 80 pesos in January 2021.