Table A: Year-on-Year Inflation Rates for All Items in CAR
January 2024, December 2024 – January 2025 
In Percent (2018=100)

Figure 1: Inflation Rates in Cordillera Administrative Region, All Items:
January 2024 - January 2025 
In Percent (2018=100)

1.    Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR)

The inflation rate for all income households in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) accelerated to 4.1% in January 2025 from 3.3% in December 2024. Compared to January 2024, the inflation rate in the region was lower at 2.1% (Table A and Figure 1).

1.1 Main Drivers to the Upward Trend of Inflation in Cordillera

The contributor to the upward trend of the regional inflation in January 2025 was primarily driven by the Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and other Fuels group, with an inflation rate of 4.7% from 3.4% in December 2024, contributing 47.0% to the upward trend of inflation rate. Notable contributors also include Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages that increased from 5.0% to 5.6%, contributing 30.2%, and Transport from 0.2% to 1.0%, with 10.7% share.

Table B: Year-on-Year Inflation Rates by Commodity Group, CAR
January 2024, December 2024 – January 2025 
In Percent (2018=100)

The commodity groups that recorded faster inflation rates were the following:

a.    Restaurants and Accommodation Services, 4.3% from 2.8%; 
b.  Furnishings, Household Equipment and Routine Household Maintenance, 2.9% from 2.4%; 
c.    Personal Care, and Miscellaneous Goods and Services, 4.1% from 4.0%; 
d.    Information and Communication, 0.9% from 0.8%; 
e.    Recreation, Sports and Culture, 1.7% from 1.5%; and
f.    Financial Services, 0.0% from -1.7%. 

On the other hand, two (2) commodity groups experienced slower inflation rates:

a.    Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco, 3.0% from 3.2%; and
b.    Health, 2.9% from 3.3%.  

Two (2) commodity groups maintained the same inflation rates:

a.    Clothing and Footwear, 1.3%; and
b.    Education Services, 0.3%.
 

1.2 Main Contributors to Cordillera Inflation

In January 2025, the Food and Non-alcoholic Beverages group was the primary contributor to inflation in the region. This commodity group accounted for 50.0% of the overall inflation, contributing 2.1 percentage points to the total inflation rate of 4.1%. This was followed by:

a.    Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and other Fuels, 30.1% share or 1.2 percentage points; and
b.    Personal Care, and Miscellaneous Goods and Services, 4.4% share or 0.2 percentage points.

2.    Food Inflation in CAR

Food inflation in CAR rose to 5.7% in January 2025, up from 5.0% in December 2024. This increase accounted for 47.4% of the total inflation rate of 4.1% in the region. Compared to January 2024, food inflation was also slower at 2.5% (Table C).

2.1 Main Drivers of the Uptrend in Food Inflation

In January 2025, the most significant contributions in the rise of food inflation came from a higher inflation rate in the Vegetables, Tubers, Plantains, Cooking Bananas, and Pulses group that accounted for 21.5%. This commodity group recorded an inflation rate of 21.9% from 10.7%

In addition, higher inflation rates were observed in the following commodity food groups:

a.    Meat and Other Parts of Slaughtered Land Animals, 5.1% from 4.6%; 
b.    Fish and Other Seafood, 2.9% from 2.1%; 
c.    Fruits and Nuts, 4.9% from 3.0%;
d.    Ready-made Food and Other Food Products n.e.c.., 5.7% from 5.4%; and
e.    Sugar, Confectionery and Desserts, -0.9% from -1.6%.

On the other hand, slower inflation rates were noted in the following food groups during the month:

a.    Rice, 2.8% from 6.8%; 
b.    Corn, 2.9% from 4.0%; 
c.    Milk, Other Dairy Products and Eggs, 0.7% from 1.4%; and
d.    Oils and Fats; 1.0% from 1.1%.

Table C: Year-on-Year Inflation Rates for Food in CAR
In Percent (2018=100)

2.2 Main Contributors to Cordillera Food Inflation

The top three (3) food groups contributing to the 5.7% food inflation during the month were:

a.    Vegetables, Tubers, Plantains, Cooking Bananas, and Pulses, 45.4% share or 2.6 percentage points;
b.    Meat and Other Parts of Slaughtered Land Animals, 17.4% or 1.0 percentage points; and
c.    Rice, 14.8% share or 0.9 percentage points.

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

In January 2025, Inflation rates in the region accelerated in most of the provinces and Baguio City, except for the provinces of Apayao and Ifugao, where inflation slowed down to -0.6% from 0.6% and 2.9% from 3.1 percent, respectively. The provincial inflation rates were as follows:

a.    Abra, 6.9% from 5.1%;
b.    Apayao, -0.6% from 0.6%;
c.    Baguio City, 4.4% from 3.9%;
d.    Benguet, 3.0% from 1.8%;
e.    Ifugao, 2.9% from 3.1%;
f.    Kalinga, 5.0% from 4.0%; and
g.    Mountain Province, 5.7% from 5.2%.

Among the provinces, Abra recorded the highest inflation rate in January 2025 with 6.9%. On the other hand, Apayao reported the lowest inflation rate with -0.6% (Table 1).

__________________________________________________________________
Note:
CPI and inflation rates 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    2/07/2025
SS II    KAMC    
COSW-SS I    RJPB    2/06/2025

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.