Table 1: Year-on-Year Inflation Rates for All Items in CAR
February 2024, January 2025 – February 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 region’s overall inflation rate for all income households slowed down to 2.5% in February 2025 from 4.1% in January. Compared to February 2024, the inflation rate in the region was posted at 3.1% (Table 1 and Figure 1).

1.1 Main Drivers to the Downward Trend of Inflation in Cordillera

The downward trend of the overall inflation of the region was primarily influenced by Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages. This commodity group posted 3.0% inflation rate in February 2025 from 5.6% in January, contributing 63.3% to the downward trend of the inflation rate. Likewise, the slower increases in Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas, and Other Fuels with a 3.0% inflation rate from 4.7%, including Transport with 0.6% from 1.0%, further decelerated the region’s inflation rate by 29.7% and 2.6%, respectively.

Table 2: Year-on-Year Inflation Rates by Commodity Group, CAR
February 2024, January 2025 – February 2025 
In Percent (2018=100)

Among the thirteen (13) major commodity groups, eleven (11) posted slower inflation rates:

a.   Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages, 3.0% from 5.6%; 
b.   Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco, 2.5% from 3.0%; 
c.   Clothing and Footwear, 1.0% from 1.3%; 
d.   Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels, 3.0% from 4.7%; 
e.   Furnishings, Household Equipment, and Routine Household Maintenance, 2.4% from 2.9%;
f.   Health, 2.8% from 2.9%;
g.   Transport, 0.6% from 1.0%;
h.   Information and Communication, 0.8% from 0.9%;
i.   Recreation, Sport, and Culture, 1.5% from 1.7%;
j.   Restaurants and Accommodation Services, 4.0% from 4.3%; and
k.   Personal Care, and Miscellaneous Goods and Services, 3.9% from 4.1%.

Meanwhile, two (2) commodity groups maintained the same inflation rates:

a.   Education Services, 0.3%; and
b.   Financial Services, 0.0%.

1.2 Main Contributors to Cordillera Inflation

In February 2025, the Food and Non-alcoholic Beverages group was the top contributor to the region’s inflation rate. This commodity group accounted for 42.2% of the overall inflation, contributing 1.1 percentage points to the total inflation rate of 2.5%. This was followed by:

a.    Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and other Fuels, 30.3% share or 0.8 percentage points; and
b.    Personal Care and Miscellaneous Goods and Services, 6.6% share or 0.2 percentage points.

2.    Food Inflation in CAR

Food inflation in CAR slowed down to 3.0% in February 2025 from 5.7% in January. This decrease accounted for 38.5% of the total inflation rate of 2.5% in the region. Compared to February 2024, food inflation was faster at 4.5% (Table C).

2.1 Main Drivers of the Downtrend in Food Inflation

In February 2025, the downtrend in Food Inflation was primarily driven by Vegetables, Tubers, Plantains, Cooking Bananas, and Pulses with 52.9% share. This commodity group recorded an inflation rate of 7.7% from 21.9% in January 2025.

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

a.    Rice, -1.6% from 2.8%; 
b.    Corn, -2.7% from 2.9%; 
c.    Flour, Bread and Other Bakery Products, Pasta Products, and Other Cereals, 2.8% from 3.8%; and
d.    Milk, Other Dairy Products and Eggs, 0.4% from 0.7%.

Meanwhile, faster inflation rates were noted in the following food groups during the reference month:

a.    Meat and Other Parts of Slaughtered Land Animals, 6.1% from 5.1%; 
b.    Fish and Other Seafood, 3.9% from 2.9%; 
c.    Oils and Fats; 1.4% from 1.0%;
d.    Fruits and Nuts, 5.5% from 4.9%; and
e.    Sugar, Confectionery and Desserts, 0.9% from -0.9%.

Table 3: 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 3.0% food inflation during the month were:
a.    Meat and Other Parts of Slaughtered Land Animals, 40.1% share or 1.2 percentage points;
b.    Vegetables, Tubers, Plantains, Cooking Bananas, and Pulses, 30.8% or 0.9 percentage points; and
c.    Fish and Other Seafood, 17.5% share or 0.5 percentage points.

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

In February 2025, Inflation rates in the region decelerated in all of the provinces and Baguio City. The provincial and HUC inflation rates were as follows:

a.    Abra, 2.7% from 6.9%;
b.    Apayao, -1.2% from -0.6%;
c.    Baguio City, 3.4% from 4.4%;
d.    Benguet, 2.2% from 3.0%;
e.    Ifugao, 2.1% from 2.9%;
f.    Kalinga, 1.8% from 5.0%; and
g.    Mountain Province, 3.9% from 5.7%.

Among the provinces and HUC, Mountain Province recorded the highest inflation rate in February 2025 with 3.9%. On the other hand, Apayao reported the lowest inflation rate with -1.2% (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      11 March ‘25
SuSS               WBM      11 March ‘25
SA-COSW       JPL          10 March ‘25

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.