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.
• In general, the CPI increased reflecting the rise in the average prices of goods and services in all the six provinces and highly urbanized city (HUC) of CAR.
• The CPI of the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) in January 2022 was 111.7. This was higher by 3.3 index points from the 108.4 CPI of January 2021 using 2018 as base year.

Figure 1. Consumer Price Index by Province and HUC, CAR: January 2022

(2018=100)

                                                                        Source: Philippine Statistics Authority

• Among the CAR provinces/city, Mt. Province posted the highest CPI for January 2022 with 115.3, followed by Ifugao with 113.7 and Benguet with 113.0. 
• Meanwhile, Abra and Apayao posted the lowest CPI with 109.8.

CPI by Commodity Groups

• Among the commodity groups, Financial Services had the highest CPI in the region with 139.2 index points. The province of Abra incurred the highest CPI on this commodity with 160.4 index points, followed by Apayao, Benguet, and Kalinga with 146.0 index points.
• Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco ranked second among the commodity groups in the region for January 2022 with 132.9 index points. Among the provinces, Mountain Province had the highest CPI on Clothing and Footwear with 151.9 index points, while Apayao had the lowest with 119.7 index points.
• Restaurants and Accommodation Services registered the third highest CPI with 119.0 index points. Mountain Province recorded the highest index on Food and Non-alcoholic Beverages with 138.2, followed by Abra and Kalinga with 130.8 and 127.7 index points, respectively.  
• Information and Communication incurred the lowest CPI among the commodity groups in the region during the month of January 2022 with 101.7 index points. The province of Benguet incurred the highest index on Information and Communication with 103.2 index points, while Mountain Province had the lowest with 99.4 index points.
• Among the CAR provinces, Mountain Province incurred the highest CPI for All Items with 115.3 index points, while Abra and Apayao garnered the lowest CPI with 109.8 index points in January 2022.

Figure 2. Consumer Price Index by Commodity Group and by Province and HUC,

 CAR: January 2022

(2018=100)

                                 Source: Philippine Statistics Authority

• By index point change, all commodity groups in January 2022 incurred increases in index point using 2018 as the base year.  Financial Services recorded the highest increase with 39.2 points. This was followed by Transport and Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco with the point change of 14.2 points and 7.8 points, respectively.
• Information and Communication had the lowest increase of points in January 2022 with 0.2 index points.

Figure 3. Year-on-Year Consumer Price Index by Commodity Group,

CAR: January 2021 and 2022

(2018=100)

                              Source: Philippine Statistics Authority

Inflation Rate

• The average increase in the prices of goods and services in the region was 4.2% in January 2022, higher by 0.3 percentage points compared with the inflation of 3.9% in January 2021.
• Benguet posted the highest inflation rate in January 2022 with 7.2%, followed by Ifugao and Baguio City with 4.6% and 3.4%, respectively. Abra incurred the lowest inflation rate in the Cordillera region with 1.2%.
• The province of Benguet, including the only HUC in the region (Baguio City), recorded a higher inflation rate for January 2022 compared to January 2021 using 2018 as base year. All other provinces recorded a lower inflation rate compared to the previous year.

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

CAR: January 2021 and 2022

 (2018=100)

                             Source: Philippine Statistics Authority

Purchasing Power of the Peso (PPP)

• The Purchasing Power of the Peso (PPP) in all the provinces generally weakened in January 2022 compared to the same month of the previous year.
• The value of 1 peso in the region was 90 centavos in January 2022. It dropped by two centavos from 92 centavos in January 2022. Abra, Apayao, and Baguio City had the highest peso value with 91 centavos, followed by Kalinga with 89 centavos. Meanwhile, Mountain Province had the lowest peso value with 87 centavos.
• Conversely, a basket of goods that can be bought with 100 pesos in December 2018 is worth 111.7 pesos in January 2022.
• Also, one hundred pesos in 2018 was worth 90 pesos in January 2022.

Figure 7. Worth of a Hundred Pesos by Province/City,

CAR: January 2021 and January 2022

 (2018=₱100)

                               Source: Philippine Statistics Authority­