THE Philippine Statistic Authority recorded an average increase in prices of goods and services in the Cordillera Administrative Region accelerating inflation rate to 4.1 percent in July.
Inflation surpassed the July 2017 rates, according to the PSA.
Apayao and Kalinga posted the highest inflation rate at 6.0 percent followed by Ifugao at 4.4 and Benguet with 4.2.
Alcoholic beverages and tobacco had the highest inflation among other commodities in the region with 19.2 percent followed by transport with 6.5 percent.
Inflation rates for transport and communication stayed the same.
Among the food items, vegetables, corn and meat have the highest price increase with 17.1 percent, 10.5 percent and 5.2 percent respectively.
Meanwhile, fruits incurred a negative inflation rate of 0.1 percent this year.
Aside from the inflation rate, the agency also recorded an increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) with 116.1 which is higher by 4.6 index points from the 111.5 CPI of July 2017.
The CPI is a statistical measure of the average changes in prices of a fixed basket of goods and services usually purchases on small quantities for consumption by an average household.
Furthermore, it is an indicator of the change in the average prices of a fixed basket of goods commonly purchased by households relative to a base year.
Among the provinces in the region, Kalinga poste the highest CPI for July 2018 at 120.0 followed by Apayao at 118.9 and Benguet at 117.7 while Mountain Province had the lowest CPI at 111.6.
In terms of index points change, Kalinga incurred the highest increase at 6.8 index points followed by Apayao with 6.7 points increase.
From the commodity groups, alcoholic beverages and tobacco had the highest CPI in the region at 200.4, education registered the second highest CPI at 121.8 index points while clothing and footwear ranked third at 118.8 index points.
Among the CAR provinces, Kalinga incurred the highest CPI for all items with 120.0 while Mt. Province have the lowest at 111.6.
In July 2018, the value of peso in the region dropped to 86 centavos from 90 centavos in July 2017 which means a P1 in 2012 is worth 86 centavos in 2018. In other words, a basket of goods that can be bought 100 pesos in July 2012 is worth 116 pesos in July 2018.