1. Philippines

The headline inflation in the Philippines continued its uptrend as it moved up further to 7.7 percent in October 2022, from 6.9 percent in September 2022. This is the highest recorded inflation since December 2008. With this month’s inflation, the Philippines’ average inflation rate from January to October 2022 stood at 5.4 percent. In October 2021, inflation rate was observed at 4.0 percent.

The continued uptrend of the October 2022 inflation was primarily due to the higher annual growth rate in the index for food and non-alcoholic beverages at 9.4 percent, from 7.4 percent in September 2022.

2. Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR)

Inflation in CAR remained at 6.6 percent in October 2022. Inflation in CAR for the same month of last year was at 6.1 percent.

The top 3 commodity groups in terms of inflation in October 2022 was transport with an inflation rate of 19.8 percent , alcoholic beverages and tobacco index at 9.3 percent, and restaurants and accommodation services at 8.8 percent.

Inflations of following commodity groups were also as follows:

1. Food and non-alcoholic beverages, 6.5 percent;
2. Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, 4.7 percent;
3. Personal care, and miscellaneous goods and services, 4.0 percent;
4. Clothing and footwear, 3.0 percent;
5. Recreation, sport and culture, 4.5 percent;
6. Health, 3.0 percent;
7. Furnishing, household equipment and routine household maintenance, 2.4 percent
8. Education services, 1.5 percent
9. Information and communication, 0.1 percent

Financial services still had zero percent inflation rate during the month.

3. Benguet

Despite of the uptrend at the national level, inflation in Benguet had decreased to 6.9 percent in October 2022 from the 7.9 percent in September.  

Transport services posted the highest inflation rate among the commodity groups at 18.6 percent, recording a decrease of 15.8 percent from last month. It was followed by food and non-alcoholic beverages at 8.4 percent, and restaurant and accommodation services at 8.1 percent.

Contributing also to the inflation in the province were the following commodity groups:

1. Alcoholic beverages and tobacco, 7.1 percent;
2. Personal care, and miscellaneous goods and services, 4.7 percent;
3. Housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels, 3.4 percent;
4. Clothing and footwear, 4.3 percent;
5. Recreation, sport and culture, 5.1 percent;
6. Health, 3.0 percent
7. Furnishing, household equipment and routine household, 1.8 percent
8. Information and communication, 0 percent
9. Education services, 1.6 percent

Note: CPIs and inflation rates by region, province and selected city are posted at the PSA website (https://openstat.psa.gov.ph/).