Among the commodity groups, Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco posted the highest CPI in December 2021 at 264.5, followed by Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas, and Other Fuels at 149.2, and Restaurant and Miscellaneous Goods and Services at 135.4. On the other hand, Clothing and footwear at 119.4, Recreation and Culture at 115.1, and Communication at 106.7 were the three commodity groups with the lowest CPI recorded in the month of December 2021. (Figure 2)

All provinces demonstrated an increase in CPI for December 2021 as compared to the same month in 2020 with Misamis Occidental posting the highest CPI at 138.3 and Lanao del Norte posting the lowest at 132.0. (Table 1)

Table 1. Consumer Price Index for All Commodity Groups by Province, Northern Mindanao: December, 2021 and 2020 (2012=100)

December 2021 Regional Inflation Accelerates

Regional inflation in December 2021 registered at 3.6 percent from 2.8 percent in December 2020, and from 3.7 percent the previous month. This implies that the prices of goods and services in December 2021 increased at a faster pace compared to December 2020 but at a slower pace compared to the previous month. (Figure 3)

Among the provinces, Camiguin posted the highest inflation rate at 6.6 percent, while Misamis Oriental posted the lowest at 3.2 percent. (Table 2)

Table 2. Year-on-Year Inflation Rates for All Items by Province, Northern Mindanao: December, 2021 and 2020 (2012=100)

Purchasing Power of Peso (PPP)

The Purchasing Power of Peso (PPP) shows the real value of the peso relative to the base period. The PPP in Northern Mindanao dropped to PhP 0.75 in December 2021 from PhP 0.77 in December 2020. This means that a consumer’s PhP 100 in 2012 can only purchase PhP 75.0 worth of goods and services in December 2021.

All provinces showed a lower PPP in December 2021 compared to December 2020. Misamis Oriental registered the smallest decline of PhP 0.02 while Camiguin posted the biggest decline of PhP 0.05. (Figure 4)