March  of 2022 Consumer Price Index (CPI), Inflation Rate (IR) and Purchasing Power of Peso (PPP) of Siquijor Province

Siquijor CPI increases at 111.2 in March

As of March 2022 the survey of retail prices of commodities conducted by Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) in Siquijor Province has generated a CPI of 111.2 using 2018 as the base year. It increases at 1.40 from 109.8  in February 2022. During the same period in March 2021, the CPI was at 106.5. The CPI for March 2022 period implied that the cost of a basket of goods and services commonly purchased by typical Filipino households in the Province of Siquijor was at an average of P111.2.

Price indices are used for economic analysis and as a monitoring indicator of government’s economic policy.  CPI is most widely used in the calculation of the inflation rate and purchasing power of peso.  It is an indicator of the changes in the average retail prices of a fixed basket of goods and services commonly purchased by Siquijodnons relative to the base year.  Figure 1 shows the graph of CPI for all items from March 2021 to March 2022.

Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco contributes with the highest index

As shown in Table 1 below, commodities under Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco remains with the highest CPI during first quarter of 2022 with 131.5 in March. This is followed by the commodity group in Transportation which recorded a CPI at 118.3 and shows a big increase from the previous month with CPI at 112.3 in February 2022. Commodity group under Health placed in third with CPI at 112.8 in March 2022 followed by Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and other Fuels with CPI at 112.0.  The rest of the remaining group recorded a CPI above the base year except for Recreation and Culture which has a CPI below 100 at 97.5 in March 2022.  See table 1 for the complete list of CPI by commodity group from January 2022 to March 2022.

Siquijor Province Inflation increases at 4.4 percent in March 2022

Siquijor inflation in March 2022 increased to 4.4 percent from the previous month, February 2022, with inflation rate at 3.5 but these records showed a decreasing value compared to the inflation rate in January 2022 with 5.9 percent, the highest during the first quarter of 2022. The inflation in March last year recorded at 2.7.

Inflation Rate is the rate of change of the CPI expressed in percent.  See table 2 for the year on year inflation rate for all items.

Figure 2 below shows the graph of Inflation Rate from January 2021 to March 2022.

Purchasing Power of Peso (PPP) lowers at 0.90 in March 2022

     The purchasing power of peso in Siquijor Province lowered at 0.90 in March 2022 from 0.91 in the past month. In January of same year the PPP was same in March at 90 centavos.

     With the value of Php 1.0 in 2018, as the base year, PPP values only at Php 0.90 in March 2022.  See Table 3 for the comparable first quarter data of PPP for 2021 and 2022.

     Purchasing Power of Peso (PPP) is computed as the reciprocal of the CPI multiplied by 100.   The PPP is inversely related to inflation rate.  Thus, as the inflation rate increases from the base year, PPP declines.

     Figure 3 below shows the declining graph of purchasing power of peso from January 2021 to March 2022.

TECHNICAL NOTES

Uses of CPI

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

Computation of CPI

The computation of CPI involves consideration of the following important points:

a. Base Period – The reference date or base period is the benchmark or reference date or period at which the index is taken as equal to 100.

b. Market Basket – A sample of the thousands of varieties of goods purchased for consumption and the services availed by the households in the country selected to represent the composite price behavior of all goods and services purchased by consumers.

c. Weighting System – The weighting pattern uses the expenditures on various consumer items purchased by households as a proportion to total expenditure.

d. Formula – The formula used in computing the CPI is the weighted arithmetic mean of price relatives, the Laspeyre’s formula with a fixed base year period (2012) weights.

e. Geographic Coverage – CPI values are computed at the national, regional, and provincial levels, and or selected cities.

(SGD) AURELIA M. CANDA
Chief Statistical Specialist