Inflation Rate in Camiguin Rose to 9.3%

The annual inflation rate of Camiguin increased to 9.3 percent in February 2023 from 8.9 percent in January 2023. Inflation in February 2022 was lower at 3.9 percent. (See Table A and Figure 1).

Across all provinces in the Northern Mindanao region, the inflation rate in the province of Camiguin recorded the highest in February 2023. Also in the same month, Bukidnon province recorded an upward inflation trend of 8.5 percent. Meanwhile, Lanao del Norte retained its inflation rate at 8.4 percent. On the other hand, the inflation rates in the provinces of Misamis Oriental and Misamis Occidental eased in February 2023, recording 8.2 percent and 7.6 percent, respectively.

The retained inflation of the province of Lanao del Norte and the slower annual increases of the provinces of Misamis Oriental and Misamis Occidental resulted in lower inflation rate of the Northern Mindanao region, which recorded 8.0 percent in February 2023, down from 8.4 percent in January 2023; a decrease of 0.4 percentage points.

The increase in the province’s inflation in February 2023 was mainly brought about by the higher annual increase in the indices of food and non-alcoholic beverages at 12.8 percent; clothing and footwear at 4.3 percent; and furnishings, household equipment, and routine household maintenance at 2.5 percent. Further contributing to the uptrend in the overall inflation during the period were the higher annual increments in the indices of the following commodity groups as compared with January 2023 inflation rates:

• Health, 2.1 percent;
• Transport, 8.5 percent; and
• Restaurants and accommodation services, 18.1 percent

On the other hand, slower annual increases were noted in the indices of the following commodity groups in February 2023:

• Alcoholic beverages and tobacco, 8.4 percent;
• Housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels, 6.2 percent;
• Recreation, sports, and culture, 6.2 percent; and
• Personal care and miscellaneous goods and services, 5.8 percent.

The indices of information and communication, and education services had retained their recorded rates in January 2023 at 0.1 and 1.3 percent, respectively, while the financial services index recorded a zero percent annual inflation rate in February 2023. (See Table 1)

For food and non-alcoholic beverages, it had increased by 0.7 percentage points, recording 12.8 percent in February 2023, from 12.1 percent in January 2023, which primarily influenced the higher inflation rate in the same month. This was mainly brought about by higher annual increases in the following food and non-alcoholic beverage groups: flour, bread and other bakery products, pasta products, and other cereals (11.6%), meat and other parts of slaughtered land animals (19.4%), milk, other dairy products and eggs (19.5%), fruits and nuts (9.1%), and vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas and pulses (26.3%).

On the other hand, the following commodity groups recorded a decline in the annual inflation in February 2023:

• Cereals and Cereal Products, 7.5 percent;
• Fish and other seafood, 5.9 percent;
• Oils and fats, 11.7 percent;
• Sugar, confectionery and desserts, 38.4 percent; and
• Ready-made food and other food products not elsewhere

classified, 5.8 percent.

(See Table 1A, p. A-1)

(Sgd.) FRANCISCO C. GALAGAR JR.

Chief Statistical Specialist

Technical Notes

This Special Release presents the results of the Survey of Retail Prices of Commodities and Services for the Generation of Consumer Price Index (CPI) conducted in February 2023.

CPI

The CPI is an indicator of the change in the average retail prices of a fixed basket of goods and services commonly purchased by households for their day-to-day consumption relative to a base year.

Uses of the CPI

As an indicator, the CPI is most widely used in the calculation of the inflation rate and purchasing power of the peso. It is a major statistical series used for economic analysis and as monitoring indicator of government economic policy.

The CPI is also used as a deflator to express value series in real terms, which is, measuring the change in actual volume of transactions by removing the effects of price changes. Another major importance of the CPI is its use as basis to adjust wages in labor management contracts as well as pensions and retirement benefits. The CPI also serves as inputs in wage adjustments through the collective bargaining agreements.

Components of the CPI

1. Base Period

This is a reference date or simply a convenient benchmark to which a continuous series of index numbers can be related. Since the CPI measures the average changes in the retail prices of a fixed basket of goods, it is necessary to compare the movement in previous years back to a reference date at which the index is taken as equal to 100.

The present series uses the 2018 as the base year. The year 2018 was chosen as the base year because it is the year when the Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES) was conducted. The FIES is the basis of the CPI weights.

2. Market Basket

Market basket refers to a sample of thousands of varieties of goods purchased for consumption and services availed by the households in the country. It was selected to represent the composite price behavior of all goods and services purchased by the consumers.

3. Weighting System

The weighting system is a desirable system that considers the relevance of the components of the index. For the CPI, the weighting pattern uses the expenditures on various consumer items purchased by households as a proportion to total expenditures.

4. Geographic Coverage

CPI values are computed at the national, regional, and provincial levels, and for selected cities. A separate CPI for NCR is also computed.

5. Classification Standards

The 2012-based CPI series is the first in the series that used the 1999 United Nations Classification of the Individual Consumption According to Purpose (COICOP) in determining the commodity groupings of the items and services included in the market basket. The 2018-based CPI also follows the 2015 Philippine Standard Geographic Classification codes.

Inflation Rate

The inflation rate (IR) is the annual or monthly rate of change of the CPI in percent. It is interpreted in terms of declining purchasing power of money.