• 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 September 2021 was 128.5. This was higher by 7.2 index points from the 121.3 CPI of September 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 September 2021 with 135.8, followed by Apayao with 130.0 and Benguet with 129.5 while Mountain Province posted the lowest CPI with 123.0.

CPI by Commodity Groups

• Among the commodity groups, Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco had the highest CPI in the region with 264.7 index points. The province of Apayao incurred the highest CPI on this commodity with 458.1 index points, followed by Abra, Kalinga, and Ifugao with 367.1, 359.0, and 275.7 index points, respectively.
• Clothing and Footwear ranked second among the commodity groups in the region for September 2021 with 133.2 index points. Among the provinces, Kalinga had the highest index on clothing and footwear with 142.5, while Apayao had the lowest with 128.0 index points.
• Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages registered the third highest CPI with 132.3 index points. Kalinga recorded the highest index on food and non-alcoholic beverages with 137.3, followed by Benguet and Mountain Province with 135.7 and 127.9 index points, respectively.
• Communication incurred the lowest CPI among the commodity groups in the region during the month of September 2021 with 103.1 index points. The province of Kalinga incurred the highest index on communication with 105.1 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 135.8, while Mountain Province garnered the lowest index with 123.0 in September 2021.

• By index point change, Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco recorded the highest increase with (18.9 points). Increases were also incurred in Food and Non-alcoholic Beverages (11.5 points), Restaurant and Miscellaneous Goods and Services (6.9 points), Transport (5.2 points). The rest of the commodity groups reported minimal annual increases.

Inflation Rate

• The average increase in the prices of goods and services in the region was 5.9% in September 2021, higher by 4.3 percentage points compared with the inflation of 1.6% in September 2020.
• Kalinga posted the highest inflation rate in September 2021 with 7.4%, followed by Benguet and Ifugao with 6.9% and 6.3%, respectively. Mountain Province incurred the lowest inflation among all CAR provinces with 3.1%.
• All provinces recorded higher inflation rates for September 2021 compared to September 2020.

• Among all other commodities, Education incurred the lowest inflation rate of 0.0%.

By Food Items, Year-on-Year

• Among the food items, Corn recorded the highest CPI in the region in September 2021 with 194.4 index points. This was followed by Vegetables, Fruits, and Meat with 158.8, 152.5, and 152.2 index points, respectively.
• By index point change, Vegetables recorded the highest with 40.2. Meat followed with 24.9 index point increase followed by Corn with 19.8 index point decrease. Food products, N.E.C (not elsewhere classified) posted the lowest index point change with (0.9) points.

Purchasing Power of the Peso (PPP)

• The Purchasing Power of the Peso (PPP) in all the provinces generally weakened in September 2021 compared to the same month of the previous year.
• The value of 1 peso in the region was 78 centavos in September 2021. It dropped by four centavos from 82 centavos in September 2020. Mountain Province had the highest peso value with 81 centavos, followed by Abra with 80 centavos. Meanwhile, Kalinga had the lowest peso value with 74 centavos.
• Conversely, a basket of goods that can be bought with 100 pesos in December 2012 is worth 128.5 pesos in September 2021.
• Also, the hundred pesos in 2012 was worth 78 pesos in September 2021.