Consumer price index rises in the Cordillera

CONSUMER price index continues to increase according to the Philippine Statistics Authority in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) incurring 146.0, higher by 3.3 points compared to the 142.7 of October last year.

CPI is the general measure of the change in the average retail prices of a market basket or collection of goods and services commonly purchased by the average Filipino household. In general, the price index in the Cordilleras increased reflecting the rise in the average prices of goods and services.

Mountain Province remained the highest CPI at 158.0 in terms of index point change with the highest increase at 5.8 points.

The province of Ifugao came at second highest index point change with 153.0, Benguet at 146.9, while Apayao posted the lowest at 132.6.

Among the commodity groups, alcoholic beverages and tobacco, education, and food and non-alcoholic beverage had the highest index points incurred at 220.04, 165.7, and 160.7 index points, separately.

Kalinga incurred the

highest on the alcoholic beverages and tobacco commodity at 235.7, followed by Abra (233.1 points), Apayao (229.1 points) and Benguet (220.6 points).

Education ranked second among the commodity groups in the region among the provinces, Mountain Province had the highest index at 258.2, while Apayao had the lowest at 142.2.

Food and non-alcoholic beverages is third where Mountain Province recorded the highest index at 167.2, followed by Benguet and Ifugao.

Communication continued to have the lowest index price among the commodity groups in the region of which Abra incurred the highest while Apayao had the lowest.

Among the six provinces, Mountain Province consistently incurred the highest CPI for all items with 158.0 index, while the province of Apayao continued to have the lowest index at 132.6 points.

Prices of goods and services in the region increased by 2.3 percent. Mountain Province posted the highest inflation rate at 3.8 percent, followed by Ifugao at 2.9 percent, and Kalinga at 2.6 percent.

Inflation surpassed the October 2017 rate for the province of Apayao, Benguet, and Mountain Province, while other provinces had lower inflation rates in October this year as compared to the same month last year.