THE inflation rate in the Cordillera Administrative Region hit 4.5 percent in November 2018, triple the 1.4 percent in November 2017, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported.
The PSA said Kalinga had the highest inflation rate at 9.1 percent followed by Apayao with 8.0 percent and Ifugao with 7.0 percent.
Inflation rates in all provinces in November 2018 surpassed its previous record in 2017 with Kalinga logging the highest acceleration of 8.5 percentage points followed by Apayao with 7.7 percentage points and Ifugao with 4.5 percentage points.
Corn, vegetables and fish registered the highest price increases. The alcoholic beverages and tobacco basket had the highest inflation of 21.9 percent followed by health services at 8.7 percent.
The consumer price index, which refers to the general measure in the average retail prices of market basket, increased to 118 in November 2018, higher by 5.1 points from the 112.9 CPI of November 2017 using 2012 as a base year.
PSA-CAR added rebasing CPI is needed to ensure that the barometer of the economic phenomena is reflective of the current situation. CPI serve as an indicator that derives its usefulness in its representation of how much a market basket behaves over a specific period.
Among the provinces, Kalinga had the highest CPI for November 2018 with 124 points followed by Apayao and Benguet.
Meanwhile, the purchasing power of peso dropped by four centavos to 85 centavos in November 2018 from 89 centavos in November 2017.
The PSA said a basket of goods which was bought for P100 in November 2017 was worth P118 worth in November 2018.