3.8 inflation rate hits CAR
THE AVERAGE increase of prices of goods and services in the region accelerated to 3.8 percent, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority in the region.
Inflation in all provinces in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) surpassed the May 2017 rates.
Kalinga reached the highest inflation rate at 5.1 percent followed by Benguet at 4.2 and Ifugao with 3.6.
According to PSACAR, year-on-year inflation rate of food and non-alcoholic beverages in the region accelerated to 4.7 percent from 0.1 difference compared in the same period last year.
Alcoholic beverages and tobacco had the highest inflation among other commodities in the region with 14 percent followed by transport with 5.3 percent.
Food items such as vegetables (11. 8 percent), corn (11.3 percent) and meat (6.3 percent) have the highest price increase in May this year.
On the other hand, the current value of peso in the region was 87 centavos which decreased from 90 centavos in May 2017.
PSA-CAR said this means that one peso in 2012 is worth 87 centavos in 2018.
“In other words, a basket of goods can be bought P100 in May 2012 is worth P115 in May 2018. The purchasing power of peso in all provinces generally weakened in May 2018 compared to May 2017,” noted PSA-Cordillera.
The province of Benguet and Kalinga had the lowest peso value at 85 centavos while Mt. Province incurred the highest peso value at 90 centavos.
Moreover, consumer price index (CPI) in the region was 115.2 in May 2018 this year, higher by 4.2 from the 111 CPI the same period last year using 2012 as the new base 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.
PSA noted the CPI was rebased to ensure the barometer of economic phenomena is truly reflective of the current situation in the region.
“Consumer taste, fashion and technology change over time causing the fixed market basket of goods and services to become outmoded. To capture such changes for a more meaningful price comparison, revision or updating of the fixed market basket, the sample outlets, the weights and the base year had to be done periodically. The CPI is an indicator that derives its usefulness in its representation of how much a typical market basket behaves over a specific period,” PSA adds.
Based on the data, the province of Kalinga incurred the highest increase with 5.7 percent followed by Benguet with 4.7 percent and Ifugao with 3.9 percent increase.
Alcoholic beverages and tobacco among the commodity groups ranked highest CPI at 190 index points succeeded by education at 123.4, clothing and footwear ranked third at 117.7 while communication continued to have the lowest with 101.3