Consumer Price Index

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) of Ilocos Region for February 2021 was posted at 127.1. This means that on the average, prices of goods and services in the region increased by 27.1 percent from the base year 2012.    

The region’s CPI was recorded at 121.5 in February 2020 and 125.7  in January 2021.    

By Province

Among the provinces, Pangasinan posted the highest price index in February 2021 at 130.4, followed by Ilocos Norte at 128.3 and Ilocos Sur at 122.7. Meanwhile, La Union recorded the lowest price index at 118.0 in the same period. 

In February 2020, Pangasinan recorded the highest price index at 123.8, Ilocos Norte at 123.6, Ilocos Sur at 118.4 and La Union at 114.6. 

By Commodity Group

The top three commodity groups that recorded high price indices  in the region in February 2021 were: alcoholic beverages and tobacco (233.8); food and non-alcoholic beverages (139.0); and furnishings, household equipment and routine maintenance of the house (125.9).   On the other hand, the bottom three commodity groups with low price indices were: communication (101.7); transport (107.1); and recreation and culture (111.1). (see Table 1)

As shown in Figure 3, the inflation rate in the Ilocos Region settled at 4.6 percentage points in February 2021. Its annual rate in the previous month was 3.7 percent while 2.7 percent in February 2020.

It was manifested that the highest inflation rate in the region  was recorded in February 2021 at 4.6 percent. Meanwhile, the lowest inflation rate was noted in the month of May 2020 at 2.2 percent.

The inflation rate of the region increased by 0.9 percentage point  from January 2021 to February 2021. Compared from February 2020, inflation rate in February 2021 is higher by 1.9 percentage points.

By Province

Among the provinces in the region, Pangasinan posted the highest inflation rate at 5.3 percent in February 2021. This was followed by Ilocos Norte at 3.8 percent. In contrast, the lowest inflation rate was observed in Ilocos Sur at 3.6 percent and La Union at 3.0 percent.

Pangasinan recorded an increase in their inflation rate from January 2021 to February 2021 at 1.7 percentage points. On the other hand, Ilocos Norte and La union posted a decrease in their index points at 0.7 and 0.8 percentage point respectively, while Ilocos Sur sustained its inflation rate.

By Commodity Group

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

It can be gleaned in Figure 5 that PPPs in all the provinces went down from February 2020 to February 2021 by Php 0.02 in La Union, Php 0.03 in Ilocos Norte and Ilocos Sur, and Php 0.04 in Pangasinan.

SGD. ATTY. SHEILA O. DE GUZMAN