THE average increase in the prices of goods and services in the Cordillera Administrative Region slowed to 1.7 percent in June 2019 compared to the same period last year with 3.9 percent rate.
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA)-Cordillera reported that among the six provinces in the region, Apayao and Ifugao posted the highest inflation rate in June at 5.3 percent and 5.2 percent, respectively. Abra followed at 3.9 percent, then Kalinga at 3.3 percent, and Benguet with 0.3 percent.
Inflation surpassed the June 2018 rate for the provinces of Abra, Apayao, and Ifugao, while other provinces had lower inflation rates in June 2019 relative to the same month last year.
Inflation is the rate of change in the average price level between two periods, year-on year or month-on-month as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which 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.
The CPI of the region in June was 117.8, which was higher by two points from the 115.8 CPI of June 2018 using 2012 as base year.
“In general, the CPI increased, reflecting the rise in the average prices of goods and services in all the six provinces of CAR,” the PSA said.
Kalinga posted the highest CPI for June 2019 at 122.6, followed by Apayao at 122.3, and Benguet at 118.3, while Mountain Province posted the lowest CPI at 112.5.
For the commodity groups, alcoholic beverages and tobacco had the highest CPI in the region with 219.5. Abra incurred the highest CPI on this commodity with 278.7, followed by Kalinga, Apayao, and Ifugao at 259.5, 240.5, and 214.0, respectively.
Clothing and footwear registered the second highest CPI among the commodity groups in the region for June 2019 at 122.8 index points. Ifugao had the highest index on clothing and footwear at 126.8, while Apayao had the least at 116.6.
Meanwhile, education ranked third at 122.1 index points, with Kalinga, Mountain Province and Benguet recording the highest index on education with 179.1, 125.3 and 121.6, respectively.
The PSA said the value of peso in the region has dropped to 85 centavos recorded in June 2019, lower by a centavo in the same period last year.
In other words, a basket of goods that can be bought with P100 in December 2012 is worth P117.8 in June this year.
The Purchasing Power of Peso in all the provinces generally weakened in June 2019 compared to the same month in 2018.