Consumer Price Index

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) of Ilocos Region in December 2020  was posted at 125.3. This means that on average, prices of goods  and services in the region have increased by 25.3 percent from the base year 2012.    

The region’s CPI was recorded at 120.9 in December 2019 and 124.4  in November 2020.    

By Province

Among the provinces, Ilocos Norte and Pangasinan posted the highest price index in December 2020 at 128.0, followed by Ilocos Sur at 121.0. Meanwhile, La Union recorded the lowest price index at 117.6 in the same period. 

In December 2019, Pangasinan had the highest price index at 123.3. It was followed by Ilocos Norte at 122.5, Ilocos Sur at 117.5, and La Union at 114.2. (see Figure 2)

By Commodity Group

The top three commodity groups that recorded high price indices in December 2020 were: alcoholic beverages and tobacco (229.0); food and non-alcoholic beverages (136.1); and furnishings, household equipment and routine maintenance of the house (125.1). On the other hand, the bottom three commodity groups with low price indices were: communication (101.7); transport (105.8); and recreation and culture (110.8). (see Table 1)

Inflation Rate

Headline inflation rates in the Ilocos Region settled at 3.6 percent in December 2020. Its annual rate in the previous month was 3.8 percent while 2.3 percent in December 2019.

It can be manifested in Figure 3 that the highest inflation rate in the region of 3.8 percent was recorded in November 2020. Meanwhile, the lowest inflation rate was noted in the month of May at 2.2 percent.

The inflation rate of the region decreased by 0.2 percentage point  from November 2020 to December 2020. The inflation rate in December 2020 is higher by 1.3 percentage points compared to the inflation rate  in December 2019.

By Province

Among the provinces, Ilocos Norte posted the highest inflation rate at 4.5 percent in December 2020. This was followed by Pangasinan at 3.8 percent. However, the lowest inflation rate was observed in Ilocos Sur and La Union at 3.0 percent.

Ilocos Norte and La Union posted increases from November 2020 to December 2020, at 0.6 percent and 0.5 percent respectively. On the other hand, Ilocos Sur and Pangasinan posted decreases in the same reporting period. Ilocos Sur at -0.1percent and the latter at -0.4 percent.

By Commodity Group

By commodity group, alcoholic beverages and tobacco recorded  the highest inflation rate in the provinces of Ilocos Norte, La Union and Pangasinan. In Ilocos Sur, the highest inflation rate was registered in the transport commodity. However, transport commodities recorded the lowest inflation rate in Ilocos Norte and La Union. Housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels posted lowest in Ilocos Sur, while recreation and culture in Pangasinan.

Among the provinces, La Union posted the highest PPP in December 2020 with PhP0.85. This was followed by Ilocos Sur with Php0.83 PPP.  Moreover, the least was recorded in Ilocos Norte and Pangasinan with Php0.78.

It can also be gleaned in Figure 5 that PPPs in all the provinces went down from December 2019 to December 2020. Ilocos Norte posted the highest decrease at PhP0.04 PPP. This was followed by La Union and Pangasinan, at Php0.03. Ilocos Sur recorded a decrease of PhP0.02 PPP.