Inflation Rate in Camiguin Decelerated Further to 4.8% 
The inflation rate in the province of Camiguin continued to exhibit a slower pace as it further decelerated to 4.8 percent in July 2023, from 5.9 in June 2023. Inflation during the first seven months of the year averaged 7.5 percent. (Table A and Figure 1)

The continued downtrend of overall inflation in July 2023 was experienced in all five provinces across the Northern Mindanao Region. The province of Lanao del Norte had the lowest inflation rate, and the biggest decrease among five provinces, as it recorded 3.6 percent in July 2023, which was down by 1.2 percentage points from 4.8 percent in June 2023. Meanwhile, the province of Bukidnon had the highest inflation in the region with a record of 5.7 percent. Although it was lower by 0.8 percentage points than what was recoded in June 2023. The provinces of Misamis Oriental, Camiguin, and Misamis Occidental recorded lower inflation rates in July 2023 at 5.2 percent, 4.8 percent, and 4.3 percent respectively, lower than their posted inflation rates during the month of June 2023 at 6.1 percent, 5.9 percent, and 4.9 percent, accordingly.

Figure 2 presents the annual inflation rates of the provinces in Region X in July 2023.

The slower monthly increases that were recorded in the province during the month of July 2023 was primarily caused by the slower year-on-year
growth in the index of food and non-alcoholic beverages at 7.0 percent from 8.5 percent in June 2023, or a 1.5 percentage points difference during the
month. In addition, slower annual increases were observed in the indices of the following commodity groups during the month of July 2023:

            ● Clothing and footwear, 1.9 percent;

            ● Health, -0.9 percent;

            ● Transport, -4.8 percent;

            ● Information and Communication, -0.2 percent;

            ● Recreation, sports, and culture, 2.5 percent;

            ● Restaurant and Accommodation services, 7.7 percent; and

            ● Personal care, and miscellaneous goods and services, 3.4 percent.

On the other hand, higher annual hikes were noted in the indices of alcoholic beverages and tobacco at 8.2 percent, housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels at 7.0 percent, Furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance at 2.4 percent.

The education services index had retained its recorded rate in June 2023 at 1.3 percent, while the financial services index recorded a zero percent annual inflation rate in July 2023. (See Table 1)

Table 1 Year-on-Year Inflation Rates by Commodity Group: 
Camiguin (2018 = 100)

The observed slower annual growth rate of the food index during the month of July 2023 was mainly caused by the recorded decrease of the following food commodity groups: fish and other seafood which dropped by -3.1 percent, and fruits and nuts which also further declined by -2.8 percent. Further, this was also due to the slower annual increments in the following food commodity groups: flour, bread and other bakery products pasta products, and other cereals (11.7%), meat and other parts of slaughtered land animals (11.1%), milk, other dairy products and eggs (13.7%), oils and fats (4.9%), sugar, confectionery and desserts (18.2%), and ready-made food and other food products n.e.c (0.6%).

On the other hand, the inflation of the rice food index increased by 0.6 percentage points as it recorded 5.2 percent in July 2023 from 4.6 percent in June 2023. Also, the food index of vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas and pulses increased by 1.2 percentage points, recording an inflation rate of 16.1 percent in July 2023 from 14.9 percent in June 2023.

(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 July 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

a. 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.

b. 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.

c. 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.

d. 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.

e. 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.