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

1.    Cordillera Administrative Region

In May 2025, the inflation rate for the bottom 30 percent income households in CAR, accelerated to 1.6 percent, from 0.6 percent in April 2025. In 2025, the inflation rate for both all income households and the bottom 30 percent income households showed a consistent decline from January until May, which recorded an increase from its previous month (Table 1 and Figure 1).

1.1 Main Driver to the Upward Trend of Inflation

The upward trend in inflation was largely driven by the price increases in Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels commodity group that recorded an inflation rate of 3.1 percent in May 2025, from 1.3 percent deflation in April 2025. This commodity group contributed 83.2 percent to the uptrend in inflation of 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: In Percent 
May 2024, April 2025, May 2025
(2018=100)

The following also contributed to the accelerated inflation in the region’s bottom 30 percent income households:
a.    Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages, 1.2 percent from 0.9 percent;
b.   Furnishings, Household Equipment and Routine Household Maintenance, 2.3 percent from 1.9 percent;
c.    Restaurants and Accommodation Services, 3.2 percent from 3.0 percent; and
d.    Personal Care, and Miscellaneous Goods and Services, 3.5 percent from 3.4 percent.

On the other hand, the following commodity groups recorded slower inflation rates in May 2025 for the bottom 30 percent income households in the region:

Slower inflation rates:

e.    Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco, 2.9 percent from 3.2 percent;
f.    Clothing and Footwear, 0.4 percent from 0.5 percent; 
g.    Information and Communication and Education Services, 0.8 percent from 0.9 percent; and
h.    Recreation Sports and Culture, Education Services, 2.2 percent from 2.3 percent.

A slower negative inflation rate was recorded for:

i.    Transport, -1.8 percent from -1.6 percent.

The inflation rates for the following remained the same from the previous month:

j.    Health at 3.7 percent; 
k.   Education Services at 0.5 percent; and
l.    Financial Services at 0.0 percent.

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

The following commodity groups were the top three contributors to the May 2025 overall 1.6 percent inflation rate for the bottom 30 percent income households:

a.    Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages with 38.6 percent share of the total inflation, contributing 0.6 percentage points; 
b.    Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels with 36.1 percent share of the total inflation, contributing 0.6 percentage points; and
c.   Personal Care, and Miscellaneous Goods and Services with 36.1 percent share of the total inflation, contributing 0.6 percentage points to the total 1.6 percent inflation of Cordillera’s bottom 30% income household

2.    Food Inflation in CAR

For bottom 30 percent income household in May 2025, food inflation rose up to 1.0 percent from 0.8 percent in April 2025 in CAR. This commodity group accounted for 31.5 percent of the total inflation, contributing 0.5 percentage points to the overall inflation rate of 1.6 percent for May 2025. In May 2024, food inflation was recorded at 10.1 percent (Table 2).

2.1 Main Drivers of the Upward Trend in Food Inflation

The increase in food inflation was primarily driven by the faster inflation rate in Vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas and pulses ice, that recorded 4.1 percent inflation from 0.1 percent inflation in April 2025. This group contributed 59.6 percent to the acceleration in food inflation for the bottom 30 percent income households in the region (Table 2).

Moreover, faster inflation rates were also observed for the following food items in May 2025:

a.    Corn, 2.2 percent from 0.7 percent;
b.    Meat and Other Parts of Slaughtered Land Animals, 10.6 percent from 9.8 percent; 
c.    Milk, Other Dairy Products and Eggs, 2.1 percent from 2.0 percent;
d.    Oils and Fats, 3.9 percent from 3.6 percent; and 
e.    Fruits and nuts, 9.9 percent from 5.9 percent. 

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

On the other hand, the following food groups recorded slower inflation rates during the reference month:

f.    Rice, -6.9 percent from -5.5 percent; 
g.   Fish and Other Seafood, 5.8 percent from 6.1 percent; and
h.   Sugar, Confectionery and Desserts, 1.5 percent from 2.4 percent.

Flour, bread and other bakery products, pasta products, and other cereals and Ready-made food and other food products n.e.c., retained its rate from previous month, at 2.5 percent and 7.0 percent inflation respectively.

2.2 Main Contributors to Cordillera Food Inflation

The top three food groups contributing to the 1.0 percent food inflation during the month were: 
a.  Meat and other parts of slaughtered land animals, 145.8 percent share, contributing 1.5 percentage points;
b.    Fish and other Seafood, 67.9 percent share, contributing 0.7 percentage points; and 
c.    Vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas and pulses, 46.9 percent share, contributing 0.5 percentage points.

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

In May 2025, inflation rates for the bottom 30 percent income households were observed to have accelerated across all provinces and the HUC in CAR—except in Mountain Provinces, which slowed down to 0.8 percent from 1.6 percent inflation:

a.    Abra at 3.0 from -0.2 percent;
b.    Apayao at -3.3 percent from -3.8 percent; 
c.    Benguet at 1.8 percent from 1.4 percent;
d.    Baguio City at 2.8 percent from 2.6 percent; 
e.    Ifugao at 3.9 percent from 1.9 percent inflation; and
f.    Kalinga at 1.2 percent from 0.5 percent.

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

For the bottom 30 percent income households in Cordillera, Ifugao recorded the highest inflation rate with 3.9 percent while Apayao registered the lowest with a deflation of 3.3 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
CSS                 AFRB     June 2025
SuSS               WBM    11 June 2025
COSW             SCG      10 June 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.