BAGUIO CITY – The Cordillera office of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA-CAR) revealed that the region consumer price index (CPI) in July this year was 116.1 which was higher by 4.6 index points compared to the 111.5 CPI in July last year, using 2012 as the new base year.
The PSA-CAR explained that consumer price index 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 and that revising CPI is necessary to ensure that this barometer of economic phenomena is truly reflective of current situation.
Further, consumer taste, fashion and technology changed over time causing the fix market basket of goods and services to become outmoded and to capture such changes for a meaningful price comparison, revision or updating of the fixed market basket, sample outlets, wage, and base year had to be done periodically.
Among the Cordillera prices, Kalinga posted the highest CPI for July this year at 120, followed by Apayao at 118.9 and Benguet at 17.7 while Mountain Province posted the lowest CPI at 111.6.
In terms of index point change, Kalinga incurred the highest increase at 6.8 index points, followed by Apayao with 6.7 points increase.
On the other hand, among the commodity groups, alcoholic beverages and tobacco had the highest CPI in the region at 200.4 wherein Apayao incurred the highest CPI in the said commodity at 310, followed by Abra and Kalinga at 241 and 220.3, respectively.
The PSA-CAR noted education had the second highest CPI among the commodity groups in the region for July this year at 121.8 index points and among the provinces, Ifugao had the highest index on education at 179.1 followed by Benguet and Mountain Province at 121.6 and 120.5, respectively while Apayao had the lowest at 60.9.
Clothing and footwear ranked third at 118.8 index points wherein Kalinga recorded the highest index of the said commodity at 120.8 followed by Ifugao and Benguet at 120 and 119.8 index points, respectively.
The report added communication continued to have the lowest index points among the commodity groups in the region with 101.3 index wherein Apayao incurred the highest index with 103.7 while Mountain Province had the lowest at 100 index points.
Kalinga incurred the highest CPI in all the commodity groups with 120 while Mountain Province had the lowest index at 111.6 index points.
By index point change, alcoholic beverages and tobacco recorded the highest increase by 32.3 points and increases were also incurred in transport – 6.4 points; health – 6.3 points; and food and non-alcoholic beverages – 5.2 points while the rest of the commodity groups reported minimal annual increases.
By Dexter A. See
