Figure 1: Inflation Rate for the All Income and Bottom 30 percent Income Households in CAR, All Items: March 2024 - March 2025 
(2018=100)

1.    Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR)

In March 2025, the inflation rate for the bottom 30 percent income households in CAR, decelerated to 1.2 percent, from 1.5 percent in February 2025. It was observed that 2025 the inflation rate was lower for the bottom 30 percent income household than for all income household (Table 1 and Figure 1).

1.1 Main Driver to the Downward Trend of Inflation

The downward trend in inflation was largely driven by the slower price increases in the prices of Food and non-alcoholic beverages commodity group that recorded an inflation rate of 2.0 percent in March 2025, from 2.6 percent in February 2025. This commodity group contributed 87.5 percent to the inflation downtrend in the region’s bottom 30 percent income households (Table 1 and Figure 1).

Table 1: Year-on-Year Inflation Rates for Bottom 30 percent Income Households 
by Commodity Group in CAR, All Items: March 2024, February 2025, March 2025
(2018=100)

Negative and lower inflation rates of the following commodity groups also contributed to the slowdown of the March 2025 inflation in the region’s bottom 30 percent income households:

Slower inflation rates:

a.    Clothing and Footwear, 0.8 percent from 0.9 percent;
b.    Furnishings, Household Equipment and Routine Household Maintenance, 2.0 percent from 2.2 percent;
c.    Information and Communication and Education Services, 0.8 percent from 0.9 percent;
d.    Restaurants and Accommodation Services, 2.8 percent from 3.0 percent; and
e.    Personal Care, and Miscellaneous Goods and Services, 3.3 percent from 3.5 percent.

Negative inflation rates/price decreases:

f.    Transport, -0.7 percent from -0.4 percent; and
g.    Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, -1.5 percent from -1.8 percent (although slower decrease in prices).

On the other hand, the following recorded accelerated inflation in the region’s bottom 30 percent income households:

a.    Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco, 3.2 percent from 2.5 percent
b.    Health, 3.8 percent from 3.7 percent.

The inflation rates for Recreation Sports and Culture; Education Services; and Financial Services remained the same from the previous month, at 2.6 percent, 0.5 percent and 0.0 percent respectively (Table 1).

1.3 Top Three (3) Contributors to Inflation for the Bottom 30 percent Income Households

The following commodity groups were the top three contributors to the March 2025 overall 1.2 percent inflation rate for the bottom 30 percent income households:

a.    Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages with 84.6 percent share of the total inflation, contributing 1.0 percentage points;
b.    Personal Care, and Miscellaneous Goods and Services with 13.1 percent share of the total inflation, contributing 0.2 percentage points; and
c.    Restaurants and Accommodation Services with 7.7 percent of the total inflation, contributing 0.1 percentage points.

2.    Food Inflation in CAR

For bottom 30 percent income household in March 2025, food inflation slowed down to 1.8 percent from 2.4 percent in February 2025. This commodity group accounted for 75.0 percent of the total inflation, contributing 0.9 percentage points to the overall inflation rate of 1.2 percent for March 2025. In March 2024, food inflation was recorded at 9.3 percent (Table 2).

2.1 Main Drivers of the Downward Trend in Food Inflation

The decrease in food inflation was primarily driven by the slower inflation rate in Rice, that recorded -3.9 percent inflation from -2.0 percent inflation in February 2025. This group contributed 69.0 percent to the increase in food inflation for the bottom 30 percent income households in the region (Table 2).

Moreover, slower inflation rates were also observed for the following food items in March 2025:

a.    Vegetables, Tubers, Plantains, Cooking Bananas and Pulses, 6.0 percent from 9.1 percent; and 
b.    Corn, 0.3 percent from 2.3 percent.

Table 2: Year-on-Year Inflation Rates for Bottom 30 percent Income Households 
by Food Group in CAR, All Items: March 2024, February 2025-March 2025
(2018=100)

On the other hand, the following food groups recorded faster inflation rates during the reference month:
a.    Meat and Other Parts of Slaughtered Land Animals, 8.7 percent from 6.7 percent; 
b.    Fish and Other Seafood, 4.7 percent from 4.4 percent;
c.    Milk, Other Dairy Products and Eggs, 1.6 percent from -1.0;
d.    Oils and Fats, 3.1 percent from 1.8 percent; 
e.    Fruits and nuts 6.9 percent from 6.5 percent; 
f.    Sugar, Confectionery and Desserts, 2.3 percent from 0.2 percent; and
g.    Ready-made food and other food products n.e.c., 7.8 percent from 7.6 percent.

Only Flour, bread and other bakery products, pasta products, and other cereals, retained its rate from previous month, at 2.5 percent inflation.

2.2 Main Contributors to Cordillera Food Inflation

The top three food groups contributing to the 2.3 percent food inflation during the month were: 
a.    Meat and other parts of slaughtered land animals, 73.0 percent share, contributing 1.7 percentage points; and
b.    Fish and other Seafood, 42.8 percent share, contributing 0.1 percentage points. 
c.    Vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas and pulses, 26.3 percent share, contributing 0.6 percentage points;

3.    Provinces/ Highly Urbanized City (HUC) in CAR

In March 2025, inflation rates for the bottom 30 percent income households were observed to be slower across the following provinces and HUC in CAR:

a.    Abra at 2.5 percent from -0.2 percent;
b.    Benguet at 1.8 percent from 2.0 percent;
c.    Baguio City at 2.7 percent from 3.0 percent; 
d.    Kalinga at 1.0 percent from 1.5 percent; and
e.    Mountain Province at 2.8 percent from 3.0 percent inflation.

Whereas, these two provinces recorded faster inflation rates in March 2025 for the bottom 30 percent income households:

a.    Apayao at -1.8 percent from -3.7 percent; and
b.    Ifugao at 2.9 percent from 0.9 percent inflation.

Table 3: Year-on-Year Inflation Rates for Bottom 30 percent Income Households 
by Province/City in CAR, All Items: March 2024, February 2025, March 2025
(2018=100)

For the bottom 30 percent income households in Cordillera, Ifugao recorded the highest inflation rates with 2.9 percent while Apayao registered the lowest with a deflation of 1.8 percent (Table 3).
________________________________________________________________
Note:
Detailed CPI and inflation rate data by province and HUCs are available on the PSA website (http://openstat.psa.gov.ph.

(SGD)
VILLAFE P. ALIBUYOG
Regional Director
 

Designation     Initials     Date
SOCD, CSS       AFRB      11 April 2025
SOCD, SuSS     WBM      11 April 2025
SOCD, COSW   SCG        10 April 2025

 
Technical Notes

Base Period a reference period, usually a year, at which the index number is set to 100. It is the reference point of the index number series.

Consumer Price Index (CPI) is an indicator of the change in the average retail prices of a fixed basket of goods and services commonly purchased by an average Filipino household. It shows how much on average, prices of goods and services have increased or decreased from a particular reference period known as base year.

Inflation Rate refers to the annual rate of change or the year-on-year change of the CPI expressed in percent. Inflation is interpreted in terms of the declining purchasing power of money.

Market Basket for CPI purposes, market basket is a term used to refer to a sample of goods and services that are commonly purchased and bought by an average Filipino household.

Philippine Classification of Individual Consumption According to Purpose (PCOICOP) A detailed classification of individual consumption expenditures on goods and services incurred by the three (household, general government, non-profit institutions serving households of the five institutional sectors (non-financial corporations, financial corporations of the 1993 and 2008 Systems of National Accounts (SNA. The PCOICOP was patterned after the United Nations COICOP.

Purchasing Power of the Peso (PPP) shows how much the peso in the base period is worth in the current period. It is computed as the reciprocal of the CPI for the period under review multiplied by 100.

Weight is a value attached to a commodity or group of commodities to indicate the relative importance of that commodity or group of commodities in the market basket.